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AUTHOR: 


GRAY,  ELIZABETH 
CAROLINE  JOHNSTONE 


TITLE: 


TOUR  TO  THE 
SEPULCHRES  OF 

PLACE: 

LONDON 

DA  TE : 

1843 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 

BIBLIOGRAPHIC  MICROFORM  TARGET 


Master  Negative  # 


Original  Material  as  Filmed  -  Existing  Bibliographic  Record 


mm 


Gray,  Elizabeth  Caroline  (Johnstone)  "Mrs.  Hamilton 
^ray,    18j  0—1887. 

Tour  to  the  sepulchres  of  Etruria,  in  1839.  By  Mrs. 
Hamilton  Gray  ...3  ^d  ed.  London,  J.  Hatchard  and  son, 
±841.  1B43.  ' 


xi  (fr-fv^,  541  p.    col.  front.,  plates  (part  col.)  maps,  plans.     19i 
p.  vii  ix  numbered  ix^xi,-fe3pect!vel3r. 


fni 


1.  Etruria— Antiq.    2.  Tombs— Etruria. 

4-33949 
Library  of  Coitgress  DG223.G77 

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TOUR 


TO    THE 


SEPULCHRES  OF  ETRURTA 


TOUE 


TO   THE 


SEPULCHEES  OF  ETRURIA, 


IN  1839. 


V    '   )!     .( 


BY 


ie-~«r»«.i«*r- ■-•'SrtH^SKV 


MRS.  HAMILTON  GRAY. 


''"  Ere  yet  decay's  effacing  fingers 
Have  swept  the  lines  where  beauty  lingers, 
Go  bend  thee  o'er  the  illustrious  Dead." 


SSSt'tS  Kumerous  Illustrations.  , 


THIRD  EDITION. 


LONDON : 

J.  HATCHARD  AND  SON,  187,  PICCADILLY. 

1843. 


/ 


LIST  OF  ENGRAVINGS. 


Page 
MAP   OF   VEII         .  .  .  .  .79 

PLAN    OF    THE    POSITION    OF    ANCIENT    ETRURIA     .    130 
RESTORATION    OF   AN    ETRUSCAN    NECROPOLIS  .    165 

GROTTA    DEL    BARONE,    AT   TARQUINIA       .  .    176 

GROTTA    DELLE    I8CRIZI0NI  .  .  .179 

DITTO        .  .  .  .  .  .183 

TOMB    OF    CAMERA    DEL    MORTO,    &C.  .  .    187 

GROTTA    DEL   TRICLINIO  .  .  .    188 

GROTTA    DELLA    QUERCIOLA  .  .  .     192 

TAZZA    FOUND    AT   TARQUINIA        .  .  .    193 

GROTTA    DEL    CARDINALE,    TARQUINIA        .  .196 

GROTTA  DEL  CARDINALE,  PROCESSION  OF  SOULS,  &C.    198 
FRIEZE  ON  PILLAR  IN  GROTTA  DEL  CARDINALE       .    203 
GROTTA    DEL    TIFONE  ....    207 

GROTTA  DEL  TIFONE,  PROCESSION  OF  SOULS,  &C.    .211 
CYCLOPIAN    GATE    AND    WALLS       .  .  .    238 

MAP    OF    CORNETO,  ANCIENT  TARQUINIA,  AND  THE 

NECROPOLIS  ....    259 


13418 


) 


/ 


\ 


\ 


VI 


LIST    OF    ENGRAVINGS, 


RESTORATION    OF    A    TOMB    AT    VULCI  .  •    '^^^ 

REMAINS    OF    CUCUMELLA    AT    VULCI  •  •    ^^"^ 

MAP    OF    AGYLLA    OR    CERE  .  •  •    ^^^ 

RESTORATION     OF     THE     MOUND     OF     THE     REGU- 

Q45 
LINI    GALASSI    TOMB  •  •  *    "^^"^ 

VIEW       OF      THE       INSIDE      OF      THE       WARRIOR's 

345 

CHAMBER       .  •  •  •  * 

PLAN    OF   THE    REGULINI    GALASSI    TOMB  •    348 

TOMBS    AT    CASTEL    d'aSSO 

VALLEY    OF    TOMBS    AT    CASTEL    d'aSSO      .  •    407 

RESTORATION    OF   THE   TOMB    OF    LARS    PORSENNA 

464 
AT    CLUSIUM  .  •  •  • 

MONUMENT    OF    R.    L.    CECINA    AT    VOLTERRA  .    492 

TOMB    OF    AN    ETRUSCAN    MONARCH  .  •    ^^9 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  I. — Introduction. — Page  1. 

Object  of  the  work  and  motive  to  its  publication — Vague  ideas  and 
inadequate  conceptions  of  Etruria  hitherto  prevalent  in  this  country 
— Dr.  Butler,  late  Lord  Bishop  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry,  an 
eminent  exception— Campanari's  exhibition  of  Etruscan  monuments 
in  London  1836-37— His  collection  purchased  by  the  British 
Museum— Arranged  sorrily  there  in  a  hall  between  the  Egyptian 
antiquities  and  the  Elgin  marbles — Creditable  interest  taken  in  this 
collection  by  the  middle  orders  of  British  visitors — Prosecution 
of  the  author's  investigation — Etruscan  tour — Cavaliere  Micali  at 
Pisa — Difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  lady  investigating  Etruscan  re- 
mains on  the  spot — Rome,  and  its  dealers  in  antiquities — Scarabei 
— Remarkable  scarabei  in  possession  of  the  author — Four  styles  of 
art  used  in  cutting  them — Lectures  of  the  Archaeological  Society — 
Cavaliere  Kestner — Dodwell  Museum — Discovery  of  the  Regulini- 
Galassi  tombatCervetri — Cavalieri  Palin  and  Campana— Kircherian 
Museum — Museo  Borbonico  and  Gregoriano— Cavaliere  Visconti— 
Remote  antiquity  of  Etruscan  vases ;  question  whether  made  in 
Etruria  or  imported  from  Greece — Four  varieties  of  style — Classi- 
fication of  the  vases  with  reference  to  form,  colour,  and  design — 
Etruscan  emblems — Nomenclature  of  its  divinities — Modes  of  re- 
storing injured  vases— Etruscan  bronzes— Personal  beauty,  dresses, 


VUl 


CONTENTS. 


and  sports  of  the  Etruscans — Etruscan  tombs  and  cemeteries — 
English  inadequate  appreciation  of  them — Etruscan  coins — Private 
collection  of  Etruscan  miscellaneous  curiosities — Shops  of  Vescovali, 
Capranesi,  and  others. 


Chapter  II. — Veil — Page  79, 

Opening  of  a  tomb  bj  Capranesi  in  the  necropolis  of  Veii — Twenty 
vases  found  in  it — Tomb  evidently  rifled  before — Last  rifling  of 
tombs  on  record,  a.  d.  527,  in  the  reign  of  Justinian — Veii  destroyed 
by  Camillus  B.  c.  450 — Rome  and  Etruria,  their  similarities  and 
differences — Modes  of  sepulture  very  different — Pozzo  Michele,  the 
site  of  our  Scavo — Proofs  of  its  previous  violation — Want  of  proper 
system  in  regard  to  tombs  already  excavated — Mode  of  detecting 
the  exact  locality  of  a  concealed  Etruscan  tomb — Relicts  of  ancient 
Veii — Sir  W.  Gell — Ignorance  oi  the  later  Romans  in  regard  to 
Veii — Meagreness  of  historical  notices  relative  to  it — Mount  of 
Musino — Its  altar  and  Salian  priests — Isola  Farnese — Historical 
Sketch  of  Veii. 


Chapter  III. — Monte  Nerone.^P«^^  120. 

Colli  Tufarini — Conical  hills  at  Monterone — Duchess  of  Sermoneta 
— Etruscan,  Pelasgic,  and  Cyclopean  architecture — Theory  respect- 
ing the  contents  of  Etruscan  tumuli — Correspondence  of  one  with 
an  Egyptian  pyramid. 

Chapter  IV. — Tarquinia. — Page  130. 

Tarquinia  the  capital  of  ancient  Etruria — Obligations  of  Rome  to  it — 
Historical  notices  of  it — Tagis  and  Tarchon — Comprehended  Vol- 
tumna  the  seat  of  the  national  council- -Union  for  a  time  of  Rome 
and  Tarquinia  under  one  government — Demaratus  and  Tanaquil — 
Lucius  Tarquinius — Emperor  Claudius — Brazen  tablet  found  at 
Lyons — Painted  sepulchres  and  warrior's  tomb  at  Tarquinia^ Pyrgi 


/ 


CONTENTS. 


IX 


—Corncto— Cardinal  Fesch— Corsica  colonized  by  the  Etruscans- 
Carlo  Avolta — Tarquinia  a  distinguished  city  in  early  Christian 
times  ;  had  its  own  bishops— Etruscan  necropolis — Nine  tombs  open 
to  inspection—Grotta  del  Mare— Grotta  della  Biga— Grotta  del 
Barone — Grotta  delle  Iscrizioni  -,  valuable  historical  inscriptions 
in  it  —  Camera  del  Morto — Grotta  del  Triclinio  —  Grotta  della 
Querciola ;  unique  tazza  brought  from  it  by  the  author,  illustrating 
the  Etruscan  funeral  feasts— Grotta  del  Cardinale,  the  earliest  dis- 
covered— Cardinal  Garampi's  letter  to  Tiraboschi  —  Grotta  del 
Tifone  *,  remarkable  representation  of  a  procession  of  the  dead — 
Grotta  Intagliata— Lord  Kinnaird — Turchina — Cyclopean  walls — 
Two  cathedrals — Palazzo  Vitaleschi  now  the  Inn — Palazzo  Bruschi  ; 
Singular  and  important  marbles  there — Cavaliere  Manzi — Account 
of  Tarquinia  by  Sir  W.  GelL 


Chapter  V. — Vi^ci. — Page  269. 

Extraordinary  discovery  by  Lucicn  Bonaparte,  Prince  of  Canino — 
Parure  of  Etruscan  jewellery  worn  by  the  Princess  Canino 
— Chateau  Musignano— Unique  Egyptico-Etruscan  antiquities — 
Ponte  Labadia— Site  and  history  of  Vulci— Micali — Necropolis— 
Cucumella — Vulcian  code  of  honour. 


Chapter  VI.— Toscanella. — Page  306. 

Perilous  pilgrimage  from  Corneto  to  Toscanella — Signor  Campanari— 
His  genuine  hospitality — Remarkable  ring  belonging  to  Prince 
Albert's  maternal  grandfather — Excavations  by  Campanari — Etrus- 
can eggs,  survivors  of  a  funeral  feast  celebrated  some  two  thou- 
sand years  ago — Tuscanian  vases  inferior  to  those  of  Tarquinia 
— Tomb  of  the  Velthuri  — Grotta  della  Regina — Church  of  San 
Pietro — Specchii,  or  Etruscan  looking-glasses  —  Portrait  of  the 
author's  Guardiano. 


X  CONTENT?. 

Chapter  VII. — C^re  or  Agylla. — Page  340. 

Three  distinct  existencies  and  names  of  Cervetri— Arciprete  Rcgulini 
—Discoveries  by  Regulini  and  General  Galassi — Galassi's  grave- 
Tombs  in  Greece  visited  by  the  Rev.  Heathcote  Campion — Canina's 
chronology  of  the  Etruscan  tombs — Signor  Calabrese — Italian 
farmhouse — Palazzo  Ruspoli —  Great  necropolis  —  Banditaccia  — 
Historical  and  geographical  notices  of  Cervetri — Theory  by  Canina 
—Italian  dinner  at  the  Arciprete's — Remarkable  ancient  wine- 
vessel  in  his  garden — October  the  best  month  for  such  excursions 
as  the  author's. 

Chapter  VIII. — Castel  D'Asso. — Page  394. 

Viterbo— Admirable  picture  by  *'  Sebastian  del  Piombo''— Ruins  of 
Castel  d' Asso  —  Wonderful  valley,  resembling  the  "  Biban  el 
Melek/*  or  Valley  of  the  Kings  in  Egypt — Account  of  Sir  W. 
Gell  probably  inaccurate — Castel  d'Asso  generally  not  sufficiently 
appreciated — Adventure  en  route — Emotions  on  first  sight  of  the 
sepulchres  of  Castel  d'Asso— Remarkable  inscriptions  on  primitive 
cavern  sepulchres — Unrivalled  interest  of  the  whole  scene — Annual 
fair  anciently  held  at  Castel  d'Asso — Moral  reflections  upon  Castel 
d'Asso,  and  places  similar  to  it. 


Chapter  IX. — Clusium. — Page  424. 

Close  of  the  author's  tour — Monte  Fiascone — Orvieto — Italian  inn — 
Best  mode  of  making  oneself  comfortable  in  foreign  inns — Cathedral 
of  Orvieto — Religious  festival — Representations  in  fresco  of  the  fall 
and  judgment  of  Antichrist— Citta  del  Pieve—Chiusi— Politeness 
of  the  Clergy — Their  collections  of  Etruscan  antiques— Grotta  delle 
Monache  —  Deposito  degli  Dei  —  Deposito  del  Gran  Duca  — 
Deposito  dipinto  the  painted  vault;  remarkable  frieze— To/n 6 
of  Porsenna  the  only  Etruscan  sepulchre  celebrated  in  ancient 
history — Four  tumuli  claim  to  be  considered  that  of  Porsenna— 
Varro's  description — Museums  at  Chiusi— Distinguished  collection 
of  Signor  Casuccini — Beautiful  monument  of  the  Larthia  of  Chiusi 
— Sarteano  and  its  campus  umsr— Grand  duke  and  grand  duchess 


CONTENTS. 


XI 


of  Tuscany  ;  their  affability  and  christian  excellence — Honoured 
and  adored  by  their  subjects—Coquetry  of  an  Italian  housemaid — 
Historical  notices  of  Chiusi— Disquisition  on  Etruscan  genealogies 
.ind  pedigrees. 

Conclusion.— Pflg'e  500. 

Brief  notices  of  the  chief  places  and  cities  of  old  Etruria  not  par- 
ticularized in  the  foregoing  chapters—!.  Those  situated  in  Tuscany 
— 2.  Those  in  the  papal  states — 3.  Those  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples 

Etruscan  remains  in  the  Palazzo  Vecchio  of  Florence — Fiesole 

Arezzo — Cortona  —  Roselle — Sienna —  Volterra  —  Populonia — 

Satumia— Gubbio — IVIaccrata— Perugia — Assisi— Todi  and  Norcia 

Terni— Faleria,   Nepi   and    Sutri  —  Bolsena— Cossa — Albano — 

Tusculum— Rome,  the  pupil  of  Etruria — Etruscan  alphabet. 

Appendices.— Pflo;^  525. 

Vase  illustrative  of  an  Arabic  or  Persian  poem  —  Baker's  tomb- 
Carmen  Arvale — Avolta's  warrior's  tomb— Tarquinia— Corneto— 
Vulci — Castel  d'Asso. 


TOUR 


TO 


THE    SEPULCHRES    OF   ETRURTA 


IN  1839. 


CHAPTER  I, 

INTRODUCTION. 

It  has  been  suggested  to  me,  that  if  I  wish  to 
interest  the  reading  public  in  the  contents  of  this 
work,  I  ought  first  to  write  an  introduction   to  the 

Sepulchres  of  Etruria  before  describing  the  sepulchres 
themselves,  on  account  of  the  very  little  which  is  as 
yet  known  in   England   upon   the  subject,  and  the 
inducements  that  exist  to  visit  Etruscan   remains. 
I  have  been  desired  to  state  our  reasons  for  makino- 
this  tour,   and   why   we  thought  or  expected   such 
and  such  things  at  such  particular  places  ;  and  what 
other  people  may  look  for  and  hope  to  find  at  the 
same  ;    and   I    the   more  readily  comply  with  this 
suggestion,  because   no  one  has  felt  more  acutely 
Ihan  myself  the  pain  of  going  through  a  museum, 
►r  visiting  a  ruin,  wholly  ignorant  of  its  objects  and 
jhistory,    with    an    uncommunicative    and    learned 
[j)erson,  or  with  a  party  of  the  initiated  who   talk   to 


i 


2  INTRODUCTION. 

one  another  in  a  sort  of  free  masonry,  and  who,  even 
when  most  willing  to  instruct,  generally  suppose  a 
vast  deal  of  previous  knowledge  in  the  person  they 
address — hence  they  refer  to  manners  and  customs 
of  which  you  have  never  heard,  prove  a  variety  of 
things  of  which  you  never  even  suspected  the  exis- 
tence, and  use  terms  that  convey  to  your  mind  no 
idea.  You  are  accordingly  obliged  to  admire  what 
appears  extremely  ugly,  to  ascribe  all  sorts  of  value 
and  merit  to  half-broken,  tarnished,  hideous  things, 
which  in  your  secret  soul  you  think  would  have 
been  far  better  thrown  away,  and  to  pretend  to 
instruction  which  you  never  had  even  the  opportu- 
nity ot  acquiring.  In  short,  your  anticipated  great 
pleasure  proves  really  a  great  bore,  whilst  you  are 
ashamed  to  own  almost  to  yourself  that  it  is  so,  and 
would  willingly  store  your  mind  with  the  informa- 
tion that  would  make  it  otherwise,  if  you  could.  I 
never  found  this  easy  in  any  case,  but  in  regard  to 
Etruria  in  particular  it  is  needful  to  have  the  guid- 
ance of  another  if  we  would  understand  and  estimate 
her  remains,  so  scattered  are  the  sources  which  treat 
of  them,  and  so  meagre  the  streams  of  knowledge 
which  singly  they  supply.  Fortunately,  on  this 
subject  the  author  has  enjoyed  the  first  advantages 
which  Italy  can  now  offer,  and  only  regrets  for  the 
reader's  sake  that  the  want  of  a  better  capacity  and 
better  memory  have  not  produced  more  worthy 
fruit.  Such  as  it  is,  the  British  public  are  entreated 
to  accept  of,  and  excuse  it.  The  recollections  of 
this  Tour  will   be  followed   up  by  a  brief  account 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

of  the  history  of  the  Etrurians,  their  manners  and 
customs. 

Etruria  used  to  present  itself  to  my  mind  as  one 
of  the  many  nations  of  Italy,  enjoying  a  degree  of 
barbaric  power  and  greatness  prior  to  the  Romans, 
and  which  had  left  of  itself  some  few  traditions  in 
Roman  history,  and  some  widely-scattered   remains 
in    the    fragments    of  a    stupendous   masonry.     I 
thought  of  it  in  the  same  category  with  the  Equi, 
the  Volsci,  and   the  Rutuli,  and  considered  its  fall 
and  extinction  before  the  conquering  arms  of  Rome 
as  a  matter  of  course.     It    w^as  during  this  blissful 
state  of  ignorance,  in  the  summer  of  1837,  that  we 
were  honoured  with  a  visit   from  the  late  most  la- 
mented Dr.  Butler,  Bishop  of  Lichfield  ;  a  man  of 
whom    it    is    hard   to    say    whether    his    learning, 
benevolence,  or  cheerful    resignation    under  suffer- 
ing, most   adorned   his  high  and  holy  station.     As 
we  were    discoursing  of  the  late  marvellous  disco- 
veries   made    by    Rosellini    in    Egypt,    he    awoke 
our   curiosity    by   comparing    it  with    Etruria,  and 
giving  us  an  account  of  what  he  had  lately  seen    at 
Campanari's    Exhibition  of  Etruscan    tombs    then 
open  in    Pall    Mall,    which  he  advised  us  by    all 
means  to  visit   on  the  very  first  opportunity.     He 
spoke  of  funeral    feasts   and    games,   which    were 
lainted    in    the    sepulchres — statues    which    were 
[arved  upon  the  coffin-lids — crowns  of  gold  that  had 
leen  buried  with  the  dead,  and  vases,  and  ornaments, 
\t  which  he  had  been  a  purchaser  to  a  very   large 
tmount,  particularly  of  a  pair  of  ear-rings  belongmg 

B  2 


4  INTRODUCTIOy. 

to  a  priestess,  of  large  pendant  carbuncles  set  in  the 
purest  and  most  delicately  wrought  gold. 

We  did  not  then  know  that  the  bishop  was  him- 
self proprietor  of  the  finest  private  collection  of 
Etruscan  objects  in  England,  and  perhaps  out  of 
England  also,  if  we  except  the  Cavaliere  Campana's 
in  Rome,  the  Prince  of  Canino's,  and  two  or  three 
besides  at  Chiusi.  We  ourselves  can  boast  of  some 
scarabei,  such  as  the  bishop  had  not,  and  of  some 
tazze  which  excel  any  in  his  museum,  but  as  a 
whole  there  were  few  who  could  compete  with  him 
even  in  Italy,  and  in  some  articles  he  surpassed 
the  British  Museum.  It  is  with  sincere  regret  we 
learn  that  he  has  willed  this  splendid  monument 
of  taste  and  erudition  to  be  dispersed  and  brought 

to  sale.* 

We  went  to  London  a  few  weeks  after  his  most 
gratifying  visit,  and  forthwith  proceeded  to  Cam- 
panari's,  not  now  to  be  seen,  as  the  British  Museum, 
to  their  honour,  purchased  the  collection,  and,  it  is 
said,  intend  to  arrange  rooms  for  the  instruction 
of  iheir  countrymen,  in  the  same  way  as  Cam- 
panari's  were  arranged.  May  this  report  prove 
true.  We  found  that  the  kind  bishop  had  not  re- 
lated to  us  the  half  of  what  we  were  to  see.  In  one 
room  were  the  vases  for  sale,  of  various  sizes  from 


*  Before  these  pages  went  to  press,  this  fine  collection  was  already 
sold,  or  r  ather  given  away,  by  auction.     An  exquisite  little  Tazza  ot 
Kola  manufacture    which  was  sold  for  £46,  was  the  only  Etruscai 

object  which  brought  a  proper  price,  and  that  was  possibly  owing  t 

its  morocco  case ! 


r 


INTRODUCTION. 


5 


J. 


very  large  ^o  very  small,  of  beautiful  and  graceful 
forms,  made  of  red  clay,  with  black  figures  or 
drawings  upon  them,  generally  highly  polished, 
light  of  weight,  and  exhibiting  either  grotesque 
satyrs  and  fauns,  or  mythological  and  heroical 
subjects ;  but,  for  want  of  knowing  the  Etruscan 
manner  of  expressing  them,  the  gods  and  heroes 
were  to  me  all  one  with  the  creatures  that  sported 
long  tails  and  hoofed  feet.  I  was  puzzled  also  by 
seeing  a  ware  which  had  always  been  considered 
peculiar  to  Magna  Grecia,  coming  in  such  quan- 
tities from  within  seventy  miles  of  Rome,  and  still 
more  puzzled  to  observe  upon  the  vases,  subjects 
evidently  Greek,  though  with  something  grotesque 
in  the  style  of  representation.  After  wondering 
sufficiently  at  this,  we  were  shown  into  sundry  small 
chambers  lighted  by  torches.  There  were  two  of 
these  united  in  one  place,  and  four  in  another,  with 
immense  stone  coffins  ranged  along  the  sides,  which 
bore  upon  their  lids  the  figures,  in  alto  relievo, 
of  men  and  women ;  all  being,  as  appeared  to  me, 
of  colossal  size  and  great  beauty.  They  were  in  a 
half  sitting  posture,  as  if  reclining  upon  a  sofa,  and 
supported  by  cushions  ;  the  elbow  resting  upon  the 
sofa  or  bed,  whilst  the  hand  supported  the  head  of 
the  figure.  These  figures  were  sometimes  leaning 
upon  their  right  sides,  and  sometimes  upon  their 
left,  according  to  the  side  of  the  grave  on  which  the 
sarcophagus  had  been  placed,  the  back  of  the  head 
being  always  towards  the  wall.  Upon  moving  the 
lid  downwards,  we   saw    in  one   of  these   coffins  a 


6 


INTRODUCTION. 


wreath  of  ivy,  and  in  another  a  wreath  of  bay,  both 
of  pure  gold ;  in  another  lay  a  helmet  and  spear* 
in  another  a  lance,  and  in  each  something  either  of 
gold  or  bronze,  the  genuineness  of  which  it  was  so 
difficult  either  to  believe  or  disbelieve,  that  we 
were  quite  bewildered.  Where  had  these  things 
lain  undisturbed  through  so  many  ages  ?  and  how 
was  it  possible  that  objects  of  such  size  and  gran- 
deur could  have  been  concealed  so  long  ?  how 
came  they  never  to  be  discovered  before  ?  and  what 
gave  rise  to  their  discovery  now  ? 

I  must  say  I  was  almost  terrified  at  the  figures 
when  I  first  saw  them,  for  by  the  dim  firelight 
there  appeared  so  much  dignity  in  their  attitudes, 
and  severe  majesty  in  their  countenances,  that  I 
fancied  they  seemed  to  reprove  our  intrusion  upon 
their  solemn  and  sacred  rest.  There  they  lay,  not 
with  a  look  of  death,  but  as  if  they  had  a  tale  to 
tell,  if  there  were  any  one  present  willing  to  listen, 
and  worthy  to  understand.  The  countenances 
were  all  different,  bearing  the  impress  of  portraits  ; 
and  there  was  one,  a  young  priestess,  over  whom 
I  could  have  wept,  she  looked  so  innocent,  so 
young,  and  so  mournful.  She  was  supposed  to  be 
a  priestess  from  her  ivy  crown  which  still  remained, 
and  her  rich  ornaments  and  apparel,  which  I  be- 
lieve had  been  sold.  She  was  not  the  lady  of  the 
bishop's  ear-rings,  but,  as  Campanari  asserted,  wore 
carbuncles  of  a  much  smaller  size,  and  of  the  shape 
represented  on  her  statue.  She  had  bracelets  of 
a  serpent  shape  sculptured  on  her  arms,  and  rings 


I 


INTRODUCTION.  / 

upon  her  fingers ;  and,  like  all  the  other  statues, 
she  bore  in  her  hand  a  small  patrea,  either  to  re- 
ceive an  offering,  or  to  intimate  that  the  funeral 
feast  was  already  commenced. 

Having  seen  these  tombs,  we  were  conducted  up- 
stairs  into  other  small  dark  chambers,  I  think  four 
in  number,   but  all  separate  from  each  other,  and 
lighted  in  the  same  manner.     They  were  without 
sarchophagus  or  ornament,  but  had   described  upon 
the  walls  a  series  of  the  most  spirited  and  lively 
coloured  paintings.     In  one  was    a    Triclinium,    a 
man  and  woman  richly  dressed  being  seated  toge- 
ther as  if  presiding    over    some    grand    entertain- 
ment, with  piles  of  vases    and    tazze    near    them, 
dancers  and  players  upon  instruments  on  each  side, 
and  servants  waiting    to    carry  round  viands    and 
wine.     In  another  chamber  was  a  chariot  race,  in 
another    horses  caparisoned  and  dancers,   in    ano- 
ther a  fight,  all  expressed  with  a  grouping  and  a 
spirit  which  was  Greek,    and  a  mannerism  which 
was  Egyptian.     We  again  stared    at   each    other, 
and  asked,  "  Can  these  things  be  real  ?  and  who, 
and  what,  were    the  people  that  executed  them  ?" 
I  forget  if  we  saw  any  inscriptions  either   in    the 
painted   chambers   or   on    the    ponderous    coffins. 
I  think  not;  neither  do  I  remember  any    on    the 
vases  which  then  stood  for  sale.     Over  the  small 
doors  that  entered  into  these  tombs   we    saw    dif- 
ferent words  written— over  one,  *'  Vulci,"  over  ano- 
ther, "Tuscania,"  over  two  or  three, "  Tarquinia," 
and  I  think  there  were  other  names.      I  asked  the 


8 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


9 


meaning  of  the  words,  and  was  told  that  they  were 
the  names  of  the  several  cities  in  which  these  paint- 
ings were  to  be  seen,  and  from  which  the  other 
objects  were  taken.  We  inquired  the  site  of  these 
cities,  and  Campanari  said  that  most  of  them  lay  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Civita  Vecchia,  and  none  of 
them  more  than  a  day's  journey  from  Rome.  Happy 
did  we  feel  that  we  were  going  to  Italy,  and  might 
have  an  opportunity  of  visiting  them.  The  account 
which  we  gleaned  from  Campanari  of  their  dis- 
covery or  resuscitation  was  much  as  follows. 

That  he  himself  lives  in  the  ancient  Tuscania, 
now  Toscanella,  about  forty  miles  from  Civita 
Vecchia,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  ruins  of  many 
forgotten  cities  of  old  Etruria,  and  that  by  a  mixture 
of  reading,  imagination,  and  tradition,  he  came  to  the 
fixed  persuasion  that  he  was  surrounded  by  ancient 
cemeteries,  in  which,  could  they  be  examined  and 
excavated,  much  treasure  and  many  valuable  relics 
would  still  be  found.  He  joined  in  company  with 
a  few  others  to  support  the  expense  and  undertake 
the  search ;  he  got  the  government  to  guarantee 
to  them  the  profits  of  their  speculation,  with  the 
single  restriction  that  the  Pope  should  have  the 
first  choice  of  purchasing  whatever  was  found,  and 
also  might,  if  he  chose,  forbid  the  sale  of  it  out  of 
Italy.  Under  these  conditions  they  began  their 
work,  and  the  results  were  before  us.  He  stated 
that  the  objects  we  saw  were  found  continually,  and 
in  great  quantities,  particularly  vases.  I  confess  I 
felt   disappointed  to  hear  that  quantities  of  these 


m 


vases     were    found,    having  the    common    English 
feelings  that  things  are  desirable  and  valuable  in 
proportion   as  they  are  rare,  and  not  considering 
that  what   was  drawn   out  of  tombs  two  thousand 
years  old,  and   of  a  manufacture  which  no  longer 
exists,  must  ever  be  limited  in  quantity,  and  there- 
fore that  the  greater  this  limited  number,   the  more 
valuable,  because  the  more   sure  must  be  their  tes- 
timony   in    an   historical   or  mythological   point   cf 
view,  and  the  more  proof  have  we  that  they  were 
the  native  production  of  that  people  of  whose  graves 
they  form  the  standing  ornament.     For  instance,  it 
is  certain  that  a  few  of  these  vases  have  occasionally 
been  found    in  the  tumuli  of  Crim    Tartary,    and 
examples  of  them  are  even  said    to  exist  in    some 
ancient  graves  in  Norway  ;  yet,  on  account  of  their 
very  rarity,  we  believe  that   they  were  never  made 
in  those   countries,  and  that  the  Tartars  and  Nor- 
wegians never  worshipped,  and  possibly  never  even 
knew    the  names  of  the  gods  and  heroes  thereon 
represented.      We  simply  regard  them  as  part  of 
the  spoil  taken  in  war  by  the  dead  chief  in  whose 
grave  they  were    found,  and  we  suppose  that  the 
high    estimation   in    which    he   held   them,  or   the 
prowess  by  which  he  won  them,  caused  them  to  be 
consecrated  to  his  remains. 

We  could  not  be  sceptical  as  to  the  genuineness 
of  Campanari's  vases,  but  we  conversed  long  and 
with  doubt  concerning  the  sculpture  upon  his  sar- 
cophagi, his  bronze  armour,  golden  fillets,  precious 
ornaments,  imaginary   priests  and  priestesses,  and 

B  5 


10 


INTRODUCTION. 


above  all,  concerning  his  painted  tombs.     We  had 
no  doubt  that  they  were  highly  coloured  and  much 
embellished  to  please  a   British  public ;    yet   with 
every   abatement   that  we   could  make,   there  still 
remained  details  in  them  that  indicated  a   degree 
of  wealth,  luxury,  and  refinement,  which  might  in- 
deed  have  existed  in   Babylon  and  Nineveh,   but 
which  we   could  not  concede   to  a  nation  of  whose 
annals     we    had    heard    and    read   so  little    as    of 
Etruria.    The  famous  races  of  Britain  seemed  there 
to  find  their  type.     The  racers  and    race-stand,  the 
riders  with  their  various  colours,  the  judges,   the 
spectators,  and  the  prizes,  were  all  before  us.     Gar- 
ments of  the  most  graceful  form,  finest  texture,  and 
brightest  hues,  were  upon  their  eminent  personages 
and  dancing  girls;    and  besides  these,  there    had 
been  presented  to  us  that  highest,  and  in  old  times 
rarest  sign  of  a  people's  civilisation,  a  thing  un- 
known to    early  Greece  and  Rome,  that  the  man 
and  woman  should  sit  together  at  the  same  table 
and  preside  in  common  at  a  public  feast.     We  were 
unbelieving,  like  most  of  our  countrymen,  in  the 
truth  of  these  things ;  and  because  we  could  give 
no   solid    reason  why   they   might   not  have  been, 
though   we   had    remained    ignorant  of  them,  our 
understandings  and  imaginations    were    alike  per- 
plexed. 

I  may  in  this  place  mention  the  loss  which  the 
public  are  sustaining  in  not  being  able  still  to  visit 
these  interesting  monuments  arranged  as  we  saw 
them.     After  having  not  only  verified  them  all  our- 


INTRODUCTION. 


11 


jl 


I 


selves,  but  having  witnessed  scenes  that  appeared 
to  us  even  still  more  wonderful  and  worthy  of  re- 
presentation, we  went,  on  our  return  to  England, 
into  the  British  Museum,  wishing  to  feast  our  eyes 
once  more  on  the  glorious  relics  of  a  nation  past 
away.  What  was  our  disappointment  to  wander 
through  the  rooms  the  first  day,  and  see  no  appear- 
ance of  any  collection  from  Campanari.  The  very 
few  objects  which  we  did  recognize,  viz.,  bronzes 
and  scarabei,  being  so  mingled  with  Greek  and 
Roman  remains,  as  to  be  undistinguishable  without 
very  close  observation,  and  a  previous  knowledoe 
of  their  peculiar  style.  How  much  better  are  those 
matters  arranged  in  Rome  and  Florence,  where 
each  nation  has  a  cabinet  to  itself,  and  where  written 
or  printed  directions  give  some  history  of  the  object 
under  consideration  !  The  British  Museum  is  a 
feast  to  the  learned,  but  foreign  museums  are  in- 
struction to  the  ignorant ;  and  very  much  trouble 
must  be  taken,  and  many  prejudices  be  abandoned, 
before  we  can  equal  them  in  that  respect.  Certainly 
what  is  intended  to  be  a  national  treasure  should 
not  only  be  open  to  the  nation,  but  should  be  so  ar- 
ranged as  to  instruct  the  nation. 

The  second  day  of  our  visit  to  this  very  noble  and 
rich  institution,  we  considered  beforehand  where 
the  monuments  of  Etruria,  if  placed  at  all,  must  na- 
turally be  found,  and  we  decided  that  they  must 
come  between  Egypt,  the  oldest  of  nations,  and 
Greece,  her  best  known  child.  Here  we  accordingly 
sought,  and  in  a  large  disorderly-looking  hall,  lead- 


•H 


12 


INTRODUCTION, 


ing  from  the  Egyptian  to  the  Elgin  marbles,  we 
espied  what  we  were  seeking.  Ranged  along  the 
wall  in  melancholy  confusion  and  neglect,  without 
a  place  in  the  catalogue,  or  any  indication  to  the 
curiousof  their  origin  and  history,  lay  in  silence  our 
Etruscan  friends.  They  looked  indeed  as  if  they 
felt  that  they  were  in  a  strange  country,  cold,  com- 
fortless, and  far  from  home.  The  fantastic  vaults  of 
Campanari,  with  their  elevated  beds  and  mysterious 
gloom,  his  gay-painted  tombs  and  variety  of  orna- 
ment, were  no  more  to  be  seen.  In  short,  the  long 
and  ugly  line  of  stone  coffins  placed  one  against 
another  in  that  room  give  no  more  idea  of  the  se- 
pulchres of  Etruria  than  the  broken  columns  and 
isolated  statues  in  the  Egyptian   Hall  give  of  the 

o-rand  palace  of  Karnac.     The  recumbent  statues 
®  111 

look  much  as  their  originals  might  have  done,  had 

they,  when  alive,  been  brought  as  prisoners  to  the 
Druid  Isle.  They  have  an  air  of  supreme  unhappi- 
ness  and  desolation,  and  it  were  a  sin  to  have  de- 
stroyed Campanari's  beautiful  show,  if  we  are  to 
have  no  better  substitute  than  what  we  saw  when 
we  visited  the  British  Museum  in  September  1839. 
It  may  not,  I  hope,  be  irrelevant  here  to  notice  the 
great  and  very  unexpected  pleasure  which  we  ex- 
perienced in  witnessing  the  interest  which  the 
middle  order  of  people  testified  in  the  collection  be- 
fore them,  and  the  knowledge  and  improvement 
they  were  evidently  anxious  to  gain  from  their  visit 
to  the  Museum;  for  as  one  of  our  small  party  ex- 
plained and  enlarged  upon  the  different  relics  in  the- 


INTRODUCTION. 


13 


I 


different  rooms,  we  had  more  than  once  quite  a 
circle  round  us,  who  listened  with  an  earnest  and 
respectful  attention. 

But  to  return  to  the  steps  by  which  we  were  led 
on  to  make  our  Etruscan  tour. 

We  had  been  a  very  short  time  in  Italy  before  we 
had  the  advantage  of  meeting  with  the  Cavaliere 
Micali  at  Pisa,  and  forming  his  acquaintance — a 
man  known  to  Europe  as  the  author  of  a  learned 
and  clever  history  of  "  Italy  before  the  time  of  the 
Romans,"  and  latterly  of  a  history  of  the  ancient  na- 
tions of  Italy,  with  superb  illustrations,  which  is  to 
be  seen  in,  I  believe,  all  the  public  libraries  on  the 
continent.     We  did  not  then  know  that  he  had  per- 
sonally visited  most  of  the  ascertained  ruins  of  Mid 
Etruria,  and  that  he  had  been  himself  the  discoverer 
of  many  painted  tombs,  in  company  with  our  lamented 
friend  the  late  Baron  Stackelberg.     In  his  society  I 
could  not  help  in  my  mind  wandering  back  over  the 
history  of  Pisa  during  the  thirty  centuries  of  its  exist- 
ence, an  existence  the  history  of  which  we  trace,  not 
from  the  witness  of  the  living  but  the  dead.  Pisa  was 
for  many  centuries  an  Etruscan  town,  and  we  were  at 
that  moment  enjoying  a  conversazione  in  the  house 
of  one  of  her  present  noble  families,  the  Marchesa 
Aula,   whose   name,  "  Aula,"  is  Etruscan.      How 
far  back  they  really  trace  their  genealogy,  and  from 
what  stock  they  spring,  I  know  not ;  but  this  name 
is  inscribed  in  more  than  one  ancient  grave  not  far 
from  them,  and  my  mind  seemed  to  look  upon  Pisa 
thirty  centuries  ago,  with  a  palace  perhaps  on  that 


I  i 
I 


14 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


15 


very  spot,  and  an  Aula  it  may  be  for  its  master,  or 
at  least  amongst  its  guests.  Its  halls  lighted  up  and 
filled  with  a  company  of  old  and  young,  a  people 
learned,  warlike,  polished,  and  richly  attired,  assem- 
bled as  we  were  at  a  festive  entertainment,  and  en- 
joying the  accompaniments  of  music  and  dancing. 
Their  coffins  were,  perhaps,  some  in  Britain,  some 
in  France,  some  in  Bavaria,  scattered  some  into  this 
city,  and  some  into  that,  and  their  still  existing 
spirits  where  are  they  ?  These  ancient  inhabitants 
were  heathens  and  idolaters,  worshippers  of  dead 
men  and  their  images  ;  still  then,  as  now,  they  had 
amongst  them  characters  grea:  and  noble — still 
then,  as  now,  righteousness  exalted  the  nation,  and 
sin  was  the  reproach  and  became  the  ruin  of  the 
people.  But  these  things,  and  the  various  fates  of 
Pisa,  are  for  another  place.  Micali  told  as  that  there 
would  be  difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  lady  visiting 
the  tombs,  on  account  of  the  wildness  of  the  country, 
and  the  want  of  accommodation  on  the  road,  but 
strongly  advised  our  gentlemen  at  all  hazards  to 
make  the  tour. 

Our  next  information  was  gained  in  Rome.  Here 
we  found  the  shops  of  all  the  dealers  in  antiquities 
filled  with  vases,  bronzes,  curious  marbles,  scarabei, 
and  other  gems,  bassi  relievi  and  sculpture  of  more  or 
less  merit,  from  the  excavations  making  in  Etruria. 
The  scarabeus  is  a  stone  cut  in  the  form  of  a  cer- 
tain beetle,  which  was  worn  by  the  ancient  Etrus- 
cans, and  by  several  other  ancient  nations,  particu- 
larly the  Egyptians,  as  a  charm.     They  saw  in  it 


^. 


I 


an  image  of  the  Creator,  because  it  forms  a  ball  of 
earth  with  its  hind  legs,  in  which  it  deposits  its 
eggs,  an  emblem  of  the  world  instinct  with  divine 
influences  ;  and  wearing  it  was  tantamount  to  for- 
mally placing  themselves  under  almighty  protec- 
tion.    The  scarabeus  was  to  them  what  the  crucifix 
is  to  the  Roman  Catholic  ;    and  as  almost  all  the 
Etruscan  scarabei  are  engraved,  the  engraving  of 
Hercules,   Mercury,  &c.,   took   the  place  of  Sant 
Antonio,  Santa  Theresa,  and  other  mediators.     The 
engraving  was  of  the  Lar,  or  patron  saint,  or  of  the 
thing  for  or  against  which  protection  was  especially 
desired.     Hence  we  found  as  objects  to  be  depre- 
cated Cerberus,  the  two-headed  dog  of  Geryon,  the 
Chimera,   the   fate   of  Capaneus,   and,  with  many 
other  subjects,  the  Evil  Genius,  not  unlike  a  Merry 
Andrew,  concerning   which   the  superstition    was, 
that  the  uglier  the  figure,  the  safer  the  person  wear- 
ing it.     Amongst  their  sacred  protectors  we  found 
Mercury,  Bacchus,  Hecate,  all  patrons  of  the  dead : 
Pollux,  Cadmus,  Ajax,  Tarens  the  founder  of  Ta- 
rentum,  Tages  the  great  native  lawgiver,  and  others. 
Hercules  was  a  very  favourite  Lar,  and  we  found  him 
and  most  of  his  labours  often  engraved.     Of  things 
placed  under  divine   protection  were  warriors,  and 
war-steeds,   commerce  signified  by  Hercules  or  a 
Genius  crossing  the  water  on  vases  of  oil  or  wine, 
or   of  the  beautiful  manufacture  which  bears  the 
Etruscan   name,   and   every  variety  of  the  public 
games,  namely,  combats  of  men  and  of  animals,  and 
races  by  horse  or  by  chariot.     We  found  them  en- 


i  f 


V  ' 


16 


INTRODUCTION. 


graved  sometimes  with  the  whole  subject,  and  the 
charioteer,  and  sometimes  with  two,  three,  or  four 
horses  represented  abreast. 

The  most  curious  scarabei  are  those  with  inscrip- 
tions, possibly  the  wearer's  name,  or  some  word  of 
mystic  meaning.  All  the  Etruscan  words  can  be  read, 
but  the  meaning  of  scarcely  any  of  them   is  as  yet 
known.  The  next  in  curiosity  are  those  with  Egyptian 
figures,  usually  Isis  and  Horus,and  they  are  found  in 
the  graves  of  most  ancient  structure.     The  writer 
has  a  very  remarkable  one,  found  at  Chiusi,  made  of 
plasma  di   smeraldo :  the  subject  of  it  "  Isis  nou- 
rishing Horus,  or  Truth  teaching  Time.''    Also  ano- 
ther, which  was  the  wonder  of  all  Rome,  a  Moorish 
lady's  head   much  ornamented,  a  proof  of  Etruscan 
commerce   with  lands  further  south    than    Egypt, 
where  the  national  features  were  Circassian.     The 
Furies  are  represented  in  the  tombs  as  negroes,  with 
the  features  and  complexions  of  that  race,  but  this 
scarabeus  is  more  like  a  portrait  of  some  great  queen 
who  was  numbered  afterwards  among  the  Lares  of 
Etruria.      It  is  highly  ornamented   with  necklace 
and  ear-rings,  whilst  the  Furies  are  always  represented 
with  snakes  twined  round  the  head.     Some  of  the 
Etruscan  Scarabei  are  without  engraving,  and  such 
are  supposed  to  have  belonged  to  men  who  were  too 
poor  to  afford  them  otherwise ;  but  I   have  seen  a 
few  of  such  exceeding  beauty  that  I  am  not  con- 
vinced of  this  being  the  case.     They  differ  from 
the  Egyptian  both  in  form  and  material,  but  were 
worn  like  them  on  the  finger  and  the  neck.     The 


INTRODUCTION. 


17 


«1 


ancient  Egyptian  scarabeus  was  either  quite  plain 
or  inscribed,  and  was  made  of  smalto,  basalt,  or  por- 
phyry.    The  modern  Egyptian,  i.  e.  the  Egyptian 
scarabeus  of  Roman  times,  was  generally  engraved 
in  a  rude  manner,  and  made  of  amethyst,  garnet, 
lapis  lazuli,  and  various  precious  or  semi-precious 
stones.     The  Etruscan  is  always  of  cornelian,  onyx, 
sardonyx,  agate,  or  jasper.     One  I  have  named  of 
plasma,  one  I  have  seen  of  jacynth,  and  a  very  few, 
which  are  certainly  genuine,  of  a  coarse  semi-trans- 
parent amethyst.     From   having  observed  that  this 
charm  was  rigidly  confined  to  a  certain  range  of 
stones,  opaque  in  Egypt  and  semi-transparent  in 
Etruria,  I  had  long  felt  convinced  that  some  reli- 
gious superstition  was  connected  with  the  material 
of  which  it  was  made ;  but  what  that  could  be  never 
struck  me  until  I  saw  that,  even  when  the  amethyst 
was  employed,  it  was  only  such  crystals  of  it  as  were 
semi-transparent— the  reason  then  appeared  to  be 
evident.     These  stones  were  prescribed  in  order  to 
express  that  the  nature  of  the  Creator  was  but  dimly 
known  to  us,  his  ways  but  half  understood,  his  works 
but  half  seen.     Only  his  power  and  goodness  are 
fully  bodied  forth,  the  one  being  the  reason  why  we 
seek  his  protection,  and  the  other  our  ground  for 
believing  that  it  will  be  granted.     The  Egyptian, 
whose  scarabeus  was  older  still,  and  always  opaque, 
of  smalto,  jasper,  basalt,  durit,  or  porphyry,  would 
intimate,  that  to  him  the  nature  of  the  Creator  was 
incomprehensible  further  than  those  two  attributes 
of  which  his  amulet  was  emblematic.  Precious  stones 


18 


INTRODUCTION. 


were  not  used  until  the  scarabeus  began  to  be 
regarded  as  an  ornament  chiefly,  and  its  ancient 
meaning  was  forgotten.  As  scarabei  existed  long 
before  we  have  any  account  of  idols,  I  do  not  doubt 
that  they  were  originally  the  invention  of  some 
really  devout  mind,  and  they  speak  to  us  in  strong 
language  as  to  the  danger  of  making  material  sym- 
bols of  immaterial  things.  First  the  symbol  came 
to  be  trusted  in,  instead  of  the  Being  of  whom  it 
was  the  sign,  then  came  the  bodily  conception 
and  manifestation  of  that  Being  or  his  attributes 
in  the  form  of  idols;  then  the  representation  of 
all  that  belongs  to  spirits,  good  and  bad  ;  then  the 
deification  of  every  imagination  of  the  heart  of  man, 
a  written  and  accredited  system  of  polytheism,  and 
a  monstrous  and  hydra-headed  idolatry.  Many 
scarabei  exist  of  a  date  both  anterior  to  Abraham 
and  cotemporary  with  him,  and  we  know  of  no  ido- 
latry so  early  as  this  period,  except  that  of  the  host 
of  heaven.  Job  speaks  of  no  other,  neither  does 
the  first  part  of  Genesis.  In  Abraham's  days  the  one 
supreme  God  seems  to  have  been  worshipped  both 
in  Phoenicia  and  in  Egypt.  Charms  were  the  first 
steps  to  materialism,  and  we  begin  to  read  of  idols 
in  the  days  of  Jacob.  It  is  said  that  the  Pelasgians 
had  no  idols  when  they  first  appeared  in  Greece 
and  Italy,  and  the  Romans  had  none  until  the  time 
of  their  fourth  king.  Both  the  primitive  Pelasgians 
and  primitive  Romans  had  a  god  whose  holy  name 
was  not  pronounced,  and  I  doubt  not  it  was  a  tradi- 
tion from  Jehovah  of  the  Hebrews,  afterwards  Jove. 


INTFxODUCTION. 


19 


'i 


>f 


s 


Jovis  pater  Jupiter.  The  Etruscan  "  Tina"  or  su- 
preme ruler,  Tinai,  is  but  another  form  of  Adni, 
A.  d.  nai,  the  Hebrew  for  Lord  or  God.* 

The  styles  of  art  used  in  cutting  the  scarab  eus 
are  four.     First,  and  probably  oldest,  the  Egyptian 
emblem.     Second,  The  Etruscan  proper,  consisting 
of  a  set  of  round  holes  which  always  reminded  me 
of  our  burlesque  black  figures  made  out  of  five  dots. 
Third,  the  Greek  style,  so  beautifully  executed  that 
the  locality  alone  determines  it  to  be  native,  and  the 
date  of  which  is  about  the  foundation  of  Rome,  when 
Demaratus  and  his   people  came  into  Italy   from 
Corinth.     And  fourth,  the  decadence,  which  is  an 
abortive  attempt  at  something  fine,  a  large  head  and 
a  small  body,  or  limbs  and  body  out  of  all  propor- 
tion,  like    our   sculptures   and    engravings   of  the 
middle  ages.     Indeed,  this  sort  of  disproportion  and 
o*rotesqueness   is  so   much    the  character   of  their 
sculpture,  that  until  I  saw  the  Greek  style  in  the 
scarabei,  some  rare  gems,  and  a  few  most  exquisite 
specimens  in  bronze,  especially  those  now  belonging 
to  General  Ramsay  and  the  Cavaliere  Campana,  I 
did   not  believe  that  the   Etruscan   art  ever   rose 
higher.   In  all  its  manufactures,  of  whatever  nature, 
these  four  epochs  of  Egyptian,  native,  Greek,  and 
the  decline,  are  distinctly  visible.     A  few  years  ago 
scarabei  used  to  be  much  falsified  in  Rome,  especially 
those  of  the  Greek  or  Egyptian  style,  and  these 
were  chiefly  cut  in  onyx,  the  Roman  jewellers  having 
(»ot  a  quantity  of  onyx  beads  from  the  East  Indies, 

*  In  oriental  languages  the  D  and  T  are  synonymous. 


20 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


21 


which  were  found  to  answer  well ;  but  neither  this 
imposition  nor  the  imitation  or  false  recomposition 
of  vases  was  a  trade  in  1838  and  1839.  The  few 
false  ones  we  did  meet  with  were  all  such  as  had 
been  made  some  years  since ;  and  as  to  the  vases, 
besides  that  there  are  sure  methods  of  detection, 
because  no  modern  vase  will  stand  the  test  of 
aquafortis,  the  ancient  and  genuine  can  be  pur- 
chased for  less  money,  or  for  very  nearly  as  little, 
as  it  would  take  to  make  a  successful  imitation. 

We   found   that   all    the    principal    dealers    had 
bought  or  hired  land  for  themselves  in  the  burying 
places  or  on  the  sites  of  such  Etruscan  cities  as  were 
in  the  Roman  states.     Capranesi  had  excavations  at 
Veii,  Vescovali  and  Basseggio  at  Tarquinia,  Fossati 
in    Sabina,   Depoletti,    Dedominicis,  and  others  in 
various  scattered  parts.     Even  some  of  the  convents 
shared  in  the  speculation,  and  the   hospital  of  the 
Borgo  di  San   Spirito,  called  often   "  il  piu  gran 
Signore  di  Roma,"  had  more  possessions  in  these 
newly-discovered  treasuries  than  all  the  rest  put  to- 
gether.    The  prince  of  Canino  owns  wliole  cities, 
and    those,   moreover,    which  contain  the  greatest 
number  of  the  finest  specimens  that  have  yet  been 
found.     Prince  Ruspoli  and   the  Duke  ofTorlonia 
have  part  of  Cere,  the  most  ancient  of  all  the  settle- 
ments, and  in  that  respect  the  most  interesting.  All 
the  collectors  knew  Campanari,  and  substantiated 
his  report. 

Our  next,  and  by  far  our  most  important  step  in 
the  march  of  intellect  and  acquisition  of  knowledge. 


) 


f 


I 


m 

I 


was   to   attend   the  lectures  of  the  Archaeologfical 
Society  at  the  Capitol,  and  here  we  found  an  epitome 
of  all  we  desired  to  search  into,  not  of  Etruria  only, 
but  of  every  nation  in  communication  with  it.     His- 
torical antiquity  of  every  description  is  the  subject  of 
steady  inquiry  and  discussion  in  this  society.  Here  are 
found  samples,  not  only  of  all  the  different  kinds  of 
vases  and  the  different  productions  of  each  Etruscan 
city,  but  to  our  joy  we  once  more  saw  painted  represen- 
tations of  Campanari's  tombs,  and  met  members  of 
the  society  who  had  visited  them  themselves,  and  who 
could  give  us  letters  and  instructions  for  the  same 
tour.  Amongst  our  kindest  friends  was  the  Cavaliere 
Kestner,  Hanoverian  minister  to  the  court  of  Rome, 
who  not  only  often  allowed  us  to  visit  his  own  inte- 
resting collection,  but  took  the  trouble  to  explain  to 
us  the  distinctive  marks  of  difference  between  the 
Etruscans  and  the  Egyptians,  in  points  of  very  near 
resemblance.     Cavaliere   Kestner  has  probably  the 
most  valuable  collection  of  Egyptian  scarabei  in  the 
world.     It  would  be  folly  in  me  to  attempt  to  raise 
the  fame  of  the  Archaeological  Society,  or  to  think 
that  anything  I   could  say  would   add  a  gem   to  the 
chaplet  of  such  men  as  the  Cavaliere  Bunsen,  then 
Prussian    minister    in    Rome ;    Dr.    Lepsius,    pro- 
fessor   of  Egyptian    antiquities;    Dr.    Braun,    pro- 
fessor of  works  of  art  in  sculpture  and   engraving; 
Canina,  the  celebrated  architect ;  Dr.  Abeken,  Dr. 
Meyer,  and  others  whom   we  had  the  privilege  of 
hearing  lecture ;  but  this  I  may  say,  that  it  ought 
to  be  attended  by  every  English  stranger  in  Rome 


22 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


23 


to  whom  learning  is  not  a  bore,  and  who  desires  to 
wander  with  a  seeing  eye  and  understanding  mind 
through  its  storied  streets,  its  amazing  ruins,  its 
magnificent  galleries,  and  its  unparalleled  Vatican. 
Here  we  saw  casts  of  all  the  famous  engraved  gems, 
and  plates  of  all  the  best  statues  and  most  noted 
ruins  in  Greece  and  Egypt,  Italy  as  it  now  is,  and 
Italy  before  the  Romans.  In  short,  it  is  impossible 
for  me  to  express  of  what  use  this  society  was  to  us, 
in  enabling  iis  to  view  with  interest  the  objects 
antiquity  around  us ;  and  Etruria  being  a  subject 
wholly  new,  it  was  upon  it  of  course  that  we  received 
the  newest  and  fullest  light. 

We  went  into  the  Dodwell  Museum  at  the  foot 
of  the  Capitol  in  order  to  have  another  illustration 
of  the  similarity  and  the  differences  betvveen  Egypt 
and  Etruria,  but  here,  as  in  the  British  Museum, 
one  is  sadly  lost  without  a  guide,  the  remains  of 
different  countries  being  placed  upon  the  same  shelf, 
and  very  carelessly  and  superficially  described  in 
the  catalogue.  The  first  time  we  went,  we  exceed- 
ingly enjoyed  our  visit,  having  a  kind  and  learned 
antiquarian  as  our  guide.  The  second  time  we  saw 
cursorily,  admired  little  and  learned  less,  being 
ourselves  the  most  instructed  of  the  party.  In  this 
museum  there  is  one  most  interesting  Egyptian 
papyrus,  representing  the  state  of  the  soul  after 
death  and  during  judgment,  in  a  manner  which 
exactly  coincides  with  the  Etruscan  mythology. 
There  is  also  a  very  remarkable  vase  which,  in  the 
estimation   of  those  who  trace  all   European  civili- 


m 


sation  to  Greece,  is  the  most  curious  in  Europe, 
and  the  model  after  which  all  the  Etruscan  were 
made.  It  is  small,  of  a  pale-coloured  clay,  and 
was  found  in  a  tomb  amid  the  ruins  of  Corinth.  It 
is  much  broken,  but  one  side  is  quite  perfect,  and 
upon  this  two  different  styles  are  represented,  but  I 
should  say  in  exactly  the  same  manner,  and  by  the 
same  hand.  The  bowl  is  covered  with  Egyptian 
imaginary  animals,  such  as  sphynxes  and  griffins  in 
three  or  four  colours ;  and  on  the  part  above,  be- 
tween the  bowl  and  the  rim,  is  a  border  of  heroes 
fighting,  in  black  only.  They  are  much  in  minia- 
ture, and  are  done  with  great  spirit,  and  each  hero 
has  a  name  written  over  him  in  Greek  letters,  these 
names  being,  as  far  as  they  remain,  of  chiefs  in  the 
Trojan  war.  The  learned  were  delighted  at  the 
discovery  of  this  vase,  for  it  explained  to  them  at 
once  that  Demaratus,  the  Corinthian,  had  carried 
this  form  of  the  plastic  art  with  him  when  he  fled 
from  his  native  city  to  Tarquinia,  and  that  thence 
it  had  spread  into  the  rest  of  Etruria.  To  me,  I 
confess,  this  was  not  a  satisfactory  explanation. 
The  Greeks  had,  no  doubt,  themselves  learned  from 
the  Egyptians,  as  almost  all  the  vases  now  found 
in  their  country  testify,  and  had  copied  Egyptian 
models,  as  the  sphynxes  and  grifiins  prove,  and 
they  had  afterwards  beautified  these  vases  from  their 
own  elegant  and  embellishing  imaginations,  which 
improved  every  art  upon  which  they  tried  their, 
powers.  That  this  Dodwell  vase  is  of  a  very  early 
date,  and  a  sort   of  transition   from  the   Egyptian 


24 


INTRODUCTION. 


to  the  heroic  style,  I  do  not  doubt ;  but  I  do 
greatly  doubt  whether  in  this  the  Etruscans  were 
not  the  masters  of  the  Greeks,  rather  than  vice 
versa.  Heroic  vases  are  the  prolific  manufacture 
of  Etruria,  while  they  were  ever  scarce  in  Greece, 
bearing  a  very  high  price,  and  mentioned  along 
with  bronzes  as  being  an  article  of  commerce  be- 
tween the  two  nations  ;  and,  moreover,  heroic  vases 
have  been  found  in  Etruscan  tombs  of  much  older 
date  than  Demaratus :  those,  for  instance,  found  at 
Cere  in  the  Regulini  Galassi  tomb.  The  Greek 
letters  also  on  the  Corinthian  vase  did  not  appear 
to  me  either  the  oldest  style  of  writing  or  of  reading 
that  language;  whilst  the  letters  of  the  Etruscan 
inscriptions  are,  I  am  assured,  only  the  oldest  and 
now  almost  forgotten  form  of  the  Greek.  These 
Greek  letters,  be  it  remembered,  were  taken  ori- 
ginally from  Phoenicia,  and  the  Phoenician  and 
oldest  Hebrew  were  almost  if  not  altogether  iden- 
tical;  but  more  of  this  hereafter.  The  present 
Hebrew  letters  are  supposed  to  date  from  the  Baby- 
lonian captivity. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  we  found  Rome  filled 
with  amazement,  and  all  her  wise  men  occupied  in 
speculations,  about  the  stupendous  discovery  of 
the  Regulini  Galassi  tomb  at  Cervetri.  We  may 
call  it  stupendous,  for  we  may  use  this  word  to  a 
child's  toy,  when  upon  it  depends  some  mighty 
result.  The  Arciprete  Regulini  had  discovered 
this  extraordinary  toujb,  and  General  Galassi,  one 
of  the  officers  of  highest  rank  in  the  papal  army, 


INTRODUCTION. 


25 


had  bought  from  him  the  articles  therein  found. 
The  English  used  to  call  it  "  Galassi's  grave." 
All  these  articles  are  now  purchased  by  the  go- 
vernment, and  are  to  be  seen  properly  and  separately 
indicated  in  the  Gregorian  Museum ;  but  in  1838 
they  were  exhibited  in  the  general's  own  house, 
and  having  obtained  his  permission  to  visit  them, 
he  was,  like  most  of  his  countrymen,  so  polite  and 
courteous  as  to  explain  them  to  us  himself. 

If  we  had  been  surprised  at  Campanari's  exhibi- 
tion, we  were  amazed  almost  beyond  credibility  at 
the  general's.  Here  we  saw  an  immense  breast- 
plate of  gold,  which  had  been  fastened  on  each 
shoulder  by  a  most  delicately  wrought  gold  fibula, 
with  chains  like  those  now  made  at  Trichinopoly. 
^^1^  The  breastplate  was  stamped  with  a  variety  of 
arabesques  and  small  patterns,  as  usual  in  the 
Egyptian  style.  The  head  had  been  crowr.ed  with 
fillets  and  circular  ornaments  of  pure  gold,  and  a 
rich  mantle  had  covered  the  body,  flowered  with 
the  same  material.  In  this  grave  also  had  been 
found  a  quantity  of  arms,  round  bronze  shields 
with  a  boss  in  the  centre  which  was  stamped,  spears, 
lances,  and  arrows ;  a  bier  of  bronze,  as  perfect  as 
if  made  a  year  ago;  a  tripod,  with  a  vessel  con- 
taining some  strange  looking  lumps  of  a  resinous 
substance,  and  which  on  being  burnt  proved  to  be 
perfumes  so  intensely  strong,  that  those  who  tried 
them  were  obliged  to  leave  the  room.  There 
were  many  small  images,  perhaps  of  lares,  or  of 
ancestors,  in    terra   cotta   that   had    been    ranged 

c 


26 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


27 


^J'-- 


■■\v%»^ 


^. 


<Xm. 


in  double  lines  close  to  the  bier ;  also  some  large 
common  vessels  for  wine  and  oil,  and  some  finely 
painted  vases  and  tazze,  with  black  figures  upon  a 
red  ground,  which  had  been  consecrated  to  the 
dead.  There  were  wheels  of  a  car  upon  which  the 
bier  had  been  brought  into  the  sepulchre,  and  many 
other  things  which  I  do  not  remember ;  but  the 
wonder  of  all  these  treasures  was  a  sort  of  inkstand 
of  terra  cotta,  which  had  served  as  a  schoolmaster's 
ABC.  On  it  were  the  Etruscan  letters,  first  in 
alphabet,  and  then  in  syllables,  and  both  the  letters 
and  the  syllables  are  the  same  as  the  oldest  form 
of  the  Greek.  It  was  deciphered  by  Dr.  Lepsius, 
and  is  the  key  to  all  we  at  present  know,  and  will 
be  the  basis  of  all  we  are  ever  likely  to  know,  of 
the  Etruscan  tongue.  How  it  came  to  be  buried 
with  a  mighty  prince,  in  order  to  teach  such 
elements  to  us,  the  pigmies  of  five  and  twenty 
or  thirty  centuries  later,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine, 
but  so  perhaps  it  may  have  been  ordained  by  Pro- 
vidence— 

"  Who  sees  with  equal  eye,  as  God  of  all, 
A  hero  perish  or  a  sparrow  fall." 

And  we  reap  the  benefit  of  it.  Who  shall  scan  the 
counsels  of  him,  who  brings  down  the  pride  of  the 
proudest  of  nations,  and  forces  them  to  set  a  tri- 
butary people  free — not  by  arms  or  battle,  but  by 
swarms  of  flies  and  lice  ?  I  confess,  that  along  with 
this  thought,  many  others  of  a  less  worthy  charac- 
ter, and  yet  not  inconsistent  with  human  folly  and 


divine  overruling,  came  into  my  mind.  Had  it 
been  placed  there  to  teach  Charon  to  spell,  in  case 
he  should  not  understand  the  language  of  the  de- 
ceased ?  Might  it  not  have  been  to  that  Chief  him- 
self a  foreign  language,  which  he  had  mastered 
with  difficulty,  and  used  with  triumph  ?  Was  it, 
perhaps,  the  humble  memorial  of  some  magna- 
nimous action  ?  or  might  it  not  have  been  the 
primer  which  had  belonged  to  an  only  and  dearly 
beloved  child,  taken  from  him  by  an  early  death  ? 

We  had  one  other  idea,  and  it  is  perhaps  the 
most  probable.  At  the  period  when  this  tomb  was 
constructed,  Cervetri  was  called  Agylla,  and  the 
Agyllans  were  a  colony  of  Pelasgians  from  Greece 
mingled  with  the  aborigines.  May  not  this  mighty 
man  have  been  himself  a  priest  as  well  as  prince? 
May  not  Pelasgian  Greek  have  been  the  language 
consecrated  to  the  priesthood  ?  and  may  he  not  have 
desired  that  a  specimen  of  that  holy  tongue  should 
be  laid  beside  his  corpse  ?  If  not  a  priest,  may  he 
not  have  been  some  introducer  or  restorer  of  learn- 
ing amongst  his  people  ?  Perhaps  king,  priest,  and 
historian,  all  in  one.  Certainly,  an  inkstand  and  a 
horn-book  seem  strange  furniture  for  a  warrior's 
grave,  and  would  have  astonished  the  bold  barons  of 
our  middle  ages  not  a  little.  But  be  this  as  it  may, 
this  humble  article  is  likely  to  prove  to  Europe, 
what  the  stones  of  Alexandria  and  Rosetta  have  been 
before  it,  the  dictionary  of  a  lost  language,  and  the 
interpreter  of  an  extinct  race. 

In  a  memorandum  made  immediately  upon  quit- 

c  2 


28 


INTRODUCTION. 


ting  the  generars  house  I  have  noted  that  upon 
this   inkstand    were  four  alphabets   engraved,  and 
after  each   the  syllables,— thus,  ba,  be,  bi,  &c>,  ma 
me,  mi,  and  so  forth  ;  that  one  of  these  is  in  the  oldest 
or  archaic  form  of  the  Greek  alphabetic  letters,  and 
that  hence  connexion  is  likely  to  be  traced    and 
demonstrated  between  the  Egyptian,  Etruscan,  and 
Pelasgic.      The    paterse   for  making  libations  had 
Egyptian    figures   stamped    upon    them,     and    the 
worship  is  supposed  to  have  been  Persian  ;  at  least 
this  was  the  view    taken  of  it   by   the  Archaeolo- 
gical Society.     We  saw  one  gold  necklace  of  round 
beads  with  perfumes  attached  to  it  like  lozenges. 
The  bracelets  were  broad,  worked  in   figures,  and 
in   the    centre   of  each    was  a  relievo  figure  of  a 
woman  standing  between  a  good  and  evil  genius,  as 
if  to  take  her  choice,  though  probably  awaiting  her 
doom.      The   breastplate  was   worked    or   stamped 
in  figures  of  good  and  evil  genii,   and   had   a  small 
necklace  above  it,  besides  the  chains.     The  head 
ornament  was  made  up  of  two  discs,  a  larger  and  a 
smaller,   with   straight   fillets    be- 
tween them,  which  might  represent 
the  sun  and  moon,  with  the  earth 
between,  thus : 

Two  straiofht   lines  ==^ 


E 


in 


^ 


Egyptian  hieroglyphics,  always  mean  the  native 
country,  i.  e.  the  two  soils  of  Upper  and  Lower 
Egypt.  The  upper  disc  had  birds  stamped  upon 
it,  cocks  and  ducks.  The  centre  was  a  double  fillet, 
which   was  fixed   upon    the    head    with   pins,   and 


INTRODUCTION. 


29 


the  lower  disc  had  upon  it  dogs.  The  perfumes 
were  composed  of  galbanum,  myrrh,  and  frankin- 
cense, mixed  together. 

The  vases  were  chiefly  in  the  Egyptian  style 
with  strange  animals,  but  some  of  them  had  figures, 
and  on  one  was  represented  a  nuptial  procession,  a 
subject  which  is  very  rare.  The  lecturer  at  the  Archae- 
ological Society  was  inclined  to  regard  some  of  these 
ornaments  as  Phoenician,  and  one  of  our  party  was 
echoed  by  us  all  when  he  remarked,  "  These  orna- 
ments differ  from  each  other,  either  by  a  thousand 
miles  or  by  a  thousand  years.  They  are  either  the 
workmanship  of  centuries  very  remote  from  each 
other,  or  they  are  specimens  of  periods  of  a  very 
different  refinement." 

We  visited,  by  favour,  the  museum  of  Cavaliere 
Palin,  once  ambassador  from  Sweden  to  Constanti- 
nople ;  and  this  was  probably  the  most  conclusive  to 
which  we  had  access,  for  proving  the  connexion 
of  the  earliest  civilized  nations  with  each  other, 
and  the  great  similarity  of  their  remains,  such,  for 
instance,  as  Assyria  and  Egypt,  Hindostan  and 
Phoenicia,  Greece  and  Etruria.  But  for  reasons 
which  it  would  be  too  long  to  detail,  it  is  not  easy 
to  say  at  this  moment  what  may  or  what  may  not 
be  proved,  by  the  collection  of  that  learned  and  ac- 
complished gentleman.  His  museum  was  an  ar- 
chaeological assemblage,  embracing  a  wider  range 
of  objects  than  any  we  saw  elsewhere. 

Cavaliere  Campana  kindly  invited  us  to  see  his 
collection  of  antiquities,  entirely  Etruscan  ;  and  it 


30 


INTRODUCTION. 


was  a  treat  such  as  I  had  little  expected,  and  a  sight 
to  which  I  am  not  capable  of  doing  justice.  It  was 
the  more  interesting  to  me,  because  the  principal  part 
of  the  objects  were  found  upon  his  own  ground,  and 
many  of  them  were  disinterred  in  his  own  presence; 
though  he  also  spends  large  sums  upon  the  purchase 
of  whatever  appears  to  him  desirable  for  its  rarity  or 
historical  value.  In  the  first  room  were  a  set  of  lonff 
and  narrow  coffins,  all  of  terra  cotta,  and  all  with 
portraits  of  the  deceased  in  alto  relievo  on  the  lid. 
The  effigies  in  the  stone  coffins  have  usually  one 
limb  raised  in  an  uneasy  manner,  but  the  limbs  of 
these,  as  far  as  I  recollect,  were  all  straight,  and 
appeared  larger  than  life.  Each  one  had  the  patera 
in  his  hand,  and  each  was  so  highly  ornamented,  as 
to  justify  the  reputation  of  the  Etruscans  for  their 
great  love  of  gold  and  silver,  and  precious  stones. 
The  heads  of  all  were  crowned  with  diadems  or 
fillets  representing  gold.  The  women  were  adorned 
with  necklaces,  rings,  armlets,  bracelets,  and  ear- 
rings;— the  men  with  immense  torques  round  the 
neck,  chains  and  wrought  clasps  upon  their  mantles, 
and  rings  upon  their  fingers.  Some  had  also  arm- 
lets, which  reminded  us  of  the  Sabine  soldiers,  who 
went  into  battle  with  their  armlets  on,  they  having 
adopted  the  military  dress  and  discipline,  and  in- 
deed most  of  the  laws  and  customs,  rites  and  cere- 
monies of  the  Etruscans.  These  figures  were  also 
clothed  with  the  toga,  which  was  introduced  into 
Rome  from  Etruria.  Cavaliere  Campanahad  some 
large  vases,  but  they  were  from  Sabina,  and  none 


INTRODUCTION. 


31 


of  them  of  the  finest  kind.     In  another  room  we 
saw  some  exquisite  bronzes,  an  art  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  which  the  Etruscans  excelled  all  nations,  as 
we  know  from  the  testimony  of  the  Greeks  them- 
selves, and  may  judge  from  the  specimens  remain- 
ing.     Here  was  also  a  large   collection   of  terra 
cotta,  an  art  the  perfection  of  which  was  certainly 
native,  and,  as  some  writers  think,  even  original. 
We  saw  friezes  of  surpassing  richness,  lithographs 
of  which  an  artist  was  then  engaged  in  making,  for 
the  purpose  of  laying  before  the  public  ;  heads,  and 
profiles  as  votive  offerings,  beautifully  modelled  ; 
water-spouts,  and  many  other  articles. 

One  of  the  most  curious  objects  in  this  collection 
was  a  terra  cotta  infant  in  swaddling  clothes,  taken 
out  of  a  tomb,  and  which  must  have  been  placed 
there  in  commemoration  of  a  very  interesting  cir- 
cumstance in  the  life  of  the  warrior  by  whose 
corpse  it  lay.  His  funeral  obsequies  had  been  per- 
formed whilst  he  was  yet  alive.  It  may  have  been 
that  he  was  in  a  swoon  or  trance,  from  which  he 
awoke  before  the  sepulchre  was  closed,  or  still 
more  likely,  that  he  had  been  reported  dead  whilst 
fighting  away  from  his  country,  and  hence  funeral 
rites  had  been  decreed  to  him,  whilst,  in  effect,  he 
was  only  missing  from  his  companions,  perhaps  a 
prisoner,  or  having  made  some  very  narrow  escape, 
so  that  he  could  not  return  before  the  last  cere- 
monies were  over.  In  such  a  case  amongst  the 
Greeks,  no  man  could  re-enter  the  temple  of  the 
gods  until  he  had  been  washed  and  swathed  like  a 


32 


INTRODUCTION. 


new-born  infant,  emblematic  of  beginning  life  anew  ; 
and  as  this  was  the  command  of  the  oracle  at 
Delphi,  with  which  the  Etruscans  were  in  constant 
communication  from  the  very  earliest  times,  it  is 
scarcely  to  be  doubted  that  this  image  was  made 
and  laid  in  the  grave  as  a  testimony  to  such  an  oc- 
currence ;  the  more  so,  as  no  funeral  honours  what- 
ever were  allowed  to  infants. 

I  must  not  omit  to  mention,  amongst  the  terra 
cottas,  one  very  fine  bust  from  Falerii,  now  Civita 
Castellana  ;  and  also  the  bassi  relievi  on  the  sarco- 
phagi, the  subjects  of  which  were  all,  as  I  was  told, 
from  Etruscan  mythology,  and  evinced  a  beauty 
of  manner  and  refinement  of  apprehension  which 
could  turn  even  common  things  to  noble  purposes. 
I  give  this  on  the  authority  of  others,  for  though 
T  saw  them,  I  was  not  permitted  to  examine  them, 
but  was  hurried  on  into  the  other  rooms ;  and  I  did 
not  at  that  moment  feel  satisfied  whether  it  was 
on  account  of  our  limited  time,  or  of  the  subjects 
themselves. 

In  the  same  cabinet  with  the  infant  we  saw  a 
glass  spoon,  but  it  strikes  me  that  it  was  Roman. 
In  another  room,  arranged  not  unlike  that  of  the 
Gregorian  Museum  in  the  Vatican,  we  saw  the 
gems  and  ornaments  of  this  once  wealthy  people, 
the  chief  of  which  were  a  chain  of  eight  or  ten 
scarabei  richly  set  in  gold,  and  which  had  been 
worn  from  shoulder  to  shoulder ;  many  scarabei 
rings,  with  gold  circlets  through  them  ;  a  chain, 
which,  under  other   circumstances,  I  should  have 


INTRODUCTION. 


33 


called  Trichinopoly,  with  a  richly  worked  gold  orna- 
ment at  the  end  of  it ;  a  brooch  of  gold  filagree  as 
delicately  wrought  as  the  ornaments  from  China ; 
three  pairs  of  gold  earrings,  each  wrought  in  figures 
of  animals  or  genii,  and  of  superlative  beauty,  and  a 
scarabeus  which  I  for  long  after  coveted,  though  I 
am  told  that  my  own  with  the  same  subject  is  su- 
perior as  an  engraving;  but  this  was  such  a  perfect 
stone  that  we  were  never  tired  of  admiring  its  beauty. 
It  was  formed  of  the  umber  part  of  a  sardonyx,  a 
stone  much  in  vogue  amongst  the  ancients ;  it  was 
without  a  blemish,  and  the  subject  upon  it  was 
Cadmus  overcoming  the  dragon  which  opposed  his 
building  Thebes. 

The  Cavaliereissaidto  have  four  thousand  bronze 
coins,  besides  some  hundreds  of  gold  and  silver,  but 
how  many  of  these  are  Etruscan  I  do  not  know  ;  for, 
much  to  my  regret,  we  never  returned  to  see  them, 
as  we  were  asked  to  do  by  their  liberal-minded 
owner.  The  rarities  of  his  collection  which  as- 
tonished me  most,  were  three  small  and  most  ele- 
gantly formed  beakers,  of  smalto  or  semi-transparent 
glass,  the  colours  being  blue,  white,  and  yellow,  in 
Vandykes.  The  form  was  the  most  finished  Greek, 
while  the  manufacture  was  identical  with  Egypt, 
and  each  stood  upon  a  small  and  graceful  stand  of 
filagree  gold.  These  stands,  and  the  gold  mount- 
ings, I  took  to  be  the  Cavaliere's  own  tribute  to 
their  value  and  beauty  ;  but  was  told  that  they  were 
fastened  as  I  saw  them,  each  upon  its  own  stand  in 
the  tomb.     These  and  General  Galassi's  are  surely 

c  5 


34 


INTRODUCTION. 


specimens  of  the  gold  and  siver  tazze  of  Etruria  so 
much  renowned  amongst  the  Greeks.  As  to  the 
glass,  I  once  afterwards  saw  the  same  sort  at  Corneto, 
found  in  a  tomb  at  Tarquinia,  but  the  vase  was  of 
a  rude  form  in  comparison,  and  very  much  broken, 
and  even  for  the  fragments  the  owners  asked  prices 
which  were  quite  extravagant. 

The  richest  collection  existing  of  Etruscan  coins 
is  that  in  the  Jesuits'  College,  called,  from  the  name 
of  its  founder  Father  Kircher,  "  the   Kircherian 
Museum  ;"  but  as  the  rules  of  the  order  precluded 
my  admission  into  their  house,  I  can  only  give  an 
account  of  the  most    remarkable  curiosities  there 
from  the  description  of  others.     Amongst  all  the 
various  branches  of  science  which   have  advanced 
with  rapid  steps  during  late  years,  none  has  made 
greater  progress  than  the  numismatic,  or  study  of 
money  and  coins,  from  the  learning  and  perseverance 
with   which  it  has  been  pursued  by    the   Jesuits. 
They  have  arranged  and  classified  the  coins  of  Italy 
prior  to  tha  Romans,  and  contemporary  with   the 
earliest  ages  of  the  commonwealth,  with  an  exact- 
ness and  erudition  that  not  long  since  seemed  a 
hopeless   desideratum  ;    and    amongst    their  well- 
known  and  honoured  names,  that  of  Father  Marchi 
now  stands  foremost,  as  the  man  who  has  devoted 
himself  with  the  greatest  zeal  and  ability  to  this 
pursuit,  and  whose  unwearying  researches  have  been 
crowned  with  the  most  brilliant  success,  so  that  he 
has  now  formed  a  collection  of  asses,  the  ancient 
current  coin,  which  for  number  and  value   is  quite 


INTRODUCTION. 


35 


unique.  He  has  lately  published  an  account  of  this 
collection,  with  engravings  of  the  different  series  of 
asses  therein  contained,  and  to  this,  of  course,  I 
would  refer  every  one  who  desires  to  be  learned  on 
the  subject;  whilst  those  who  are  content  to  know 
little  rather  than  nothing,  will,  I  hope,  accept  of  such 
a  description  as  I  can  give  them  of  the  assis  in  ge- 
neral, and  of  the  extraordinary  specimens  of  that 
coin  which  all  gentlemen  may  have  the  privilege  of 
visiting  in  the  Jesuits'  College. 

In  Upper  and  Central  Italy,  all  the  most  ancient 
money  was  of  copper  or  bronze,  and  it  principally,  in- 
deed almost  universally,  consisted  of  the  assis,  (which 
weighed  exactly  twelve  ounces,  or  one  pound  troy,) 
and  its  five  subdivisions  of  semis  or  half;  tertians  or 
third ;  quadrans  or  fourth ;  sextans  or  sixth ;  and 
uncia  or  ounce.  These  originally  weighed  exactly 
what  their  names  denote ;  tw^o  ounces,  three,  four 
six,  and  one,  being  the  respective  proportions  of 
twelve.  They  are  all  now  rare,  and  from  time  and 
use  considerably  diminished  in  weight.  The  most 
common  is  the  assis  of  Servius  Tullius,  introduced 
into  Rome  by  this  monarch  from  Etruria,  and 
which  is  fused  and  not  stamped,  and  has  upon  it  the 
head  of  Janus.  Of  this  series  the  marks  are  as  fol- 
lows:— the  semis  has  the  head  of  Jupiter  with  anS, 
the  tertians  that  of  Minerva  with  four  dots,  the 
quadrans  that  of  Hercules  with  three  dots,  the 
sextans  that  of  Mercury  with  two  dots,  and  the 
ounce  or  uncia,  with  Minerva  again,  and  one  dot ; 
and  all  of  them  bear  on  the  reverse  side  the  prow  of 


\ 


36 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


37 


a  ship,  which  is  the  emblem   of  the  nation   whence 
they  came.      When  the  value   of  copper   greatly 
increased,  in  consequence  of  the  diminution  of  mines 
and  the  vast  consumption  of  metal,  it  being  em- 
ployed both  for  necessary  and  ornamental  purposes, 
the  assis  was  much  reduced  in  weight,  and  accord- 
ing to  Pliny  it  had  long  before  his  day  been  brought 
from  twelve  ounces  to  two,  some  writers  say  even  to 
one.     It  is  probable  that  this  reduction  was  gradual 
between  the  second  and  third  century  of  the  city  ; 
and  though  many  asses  and  their  subdivisions  have 
been  found  greatly  and  ridiculously  reduced,  none, 
I  believe,  have  come  down   to  us  in  their  lowest 
state.     I  should  conceive  three  ounces  to  be   the 
least  weight  of  any  existing  as,  and  eleven  ounces 
is  probably  the  greatest.      We   ourselves   have   a 
perfect  series  both  of  the  large  and  of  the  reduced 
assis,   and   in   the  latter   the  as   weighs  about   six 
ounces,  and  only  the  as  and  the  semis  are  fused. 
The  other   subdivisions  of  the   reduced  series  are 
stamped,  which  obtains  generally  throughout    the 
reduced  coins,  and  is  one  proof  of  a  date  consider- 
ably posterior. 

Father  Marchi  has  collected  specimens  of  no  less 
than  forty  different  mints  of  Italian  nations  prior  to 
Rome,  or  contemporary  with  the  foundation  of  the 
city  ;  and  in  1839,  he  had  arranged  twelve  complete 
series  of  asses  with  their  subdivisions,  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  show  the  political  relation  in  which 
the  cities,  whose  coins  they  were,  stood  to  each  other. 
A  consecutive  series  has  generally  the  same  reverse 


M 


Iv 


upon  all  its  subdivisions.     In  these  twelve  series  of 
twelve  different  cities  or  states,  there  appear  to  have 
been  three  leagues,  each  consisting  of  four  towns  ; 
and  the  devices  of  the  coins  not  only  mark  the  con- 
federation, but  the  way  in  which  each  city  was  joined 
or  related  to  the  other,  as  a  superior  or  a  subordi- 
nate member  of  the  league.     There  was  first  the 
coin   bearing   the   emblem    of  the  original  parent 
city  which  sent  forth  its  colony;  or  else  of  the  more 
powerful  city,  with  which  some  one  of  inferior  note 
was  incorporated.     Next  was  the  coin  with  the  ori- 
ginal badge,  united  with   another  to    denote    the 
daughter  or  ally.     Next  was  the  coin  with  a  badge 
more  faintly  resembling  that  of  the  first,  and  more 
strongly  that  of  the  second,  or,  vice  versa,  to  denote 
another  member  of  the  confederation  connected  with 
it,  either  through  the  original  or  through  the  sub- 
ordinate city.     It  altogether  reminded    me  of  the 
science  of  blazon  or  heraldry ;  and  while  Etruscan  vases 
coiistantlv  exhibit  heraldic  devices,  it  seemed  as  if  in 
ancient  Etruria,  Latium,  or  Sabina,  we  were  to  trace 
the  origin  of  marks  of  cadency.     But  though  Father 
Marchi  has  traced   upwards  of  forty  different  coin- 
ages prior  to  Rome,  and  has  proved  the  existence  of 
such  a  number  of  confederated  states  or  cities,  he 
has  as  yet  been  able  to  identify  very  few  of  them  ;  but 
it  is  impossible  to  say  what  discoveries  he  may  not 
yet  make,  with  the  persevering  and  unceasing  labour 
of  his  historical  knowledge  and  antiquarian  investi- 
gation.    To  those  who  have  no  opportunity  of  visit- 
ing the  Jesuits'  College,  the  numismatical  work  I 


li'  > 


38 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


39 


have  mentioned  will  give  a  good  idea  of  the  value 
and  nature  of  its  stores  in  that  department. 

The  prime  gem  of  Etruscan  antiquity  in  the 
Kircherian  Museum  is  the  cylindrical  vessel  of 
bronze  which  used  to  be  called  the  "  cista  mistica," 
and  which  was  supposed  to  have  contained  some  ob- 
jects connected  with  the  sacred  rites.  The  engrav- 
ings on  this  chest  are  of  extraordinary  beauty,  and 
represent  the  expedition  of  the  Argonauts.  It  is 
supported  on  ornamented  feet,  and  near  the  bottom 
is  enjrraved  the  choice  of  Hercules,  and  the  lid  is 
ornamented  with  upright  bronze  figures.  Of  the 
same  nature  with  the  engravings  on  this  cylindrical 
chest  are  those  on  the  reverse  side  of  bronze  specchii, 
or  mirrors,  which  are  frequently  found  in  the  Etrus- 
can tombs,  and  which  are  occasionally  of  the  greatest 
beauty,  but  in  a  style  which  may  be  easily  dis- 
tinguished from  that  of  Greece.  There  is  a  speci- 
men of  Etruscan  jewellery  in  this  museum,  which 
I  am  told  surpasses  anything  of  the  sort  to  be  seen 
elsewhere.  It  is  a  fragment  of  a  necklace,  which, 
for  elegance  of  form  and  minute  beauty  of  execu- 
tion, could  not  be  surpassed  by  the  goldsmiths  of 
Paris  or  London.  There  are  two  bronze  images 
of  warriors  preserved  here,  which  are  considered  to 
be  unique.  They  were  found  in  Sardinia,  and  are 
Carthaginian,  but  in  style  they  resemble  the  Etrus- 
can more  than  that  of  any  other  people,  and  were 
probably  the  work  of  Etruscan  artists  settled  in 
Carthage.  Among  the  bronzes  of  the  Jesuits'  Col- 
lege  are   some  singular  looking  hooks,   with    im- 

10 


1 


I 


mense  claws,  and  various  odd  adjuncts,  which  are  the 
counterparts  of  what  are  still  shown  in  the  Chris- 
tian Museum  of  the  Vatican,  as  instruments  of  tor- 
ture by  which  the  early  Christians  were  martyred. 
The  Jesuits  now   consider  this  as  a  mistake,  and 
that  they  were  really  used  by  the  Etruscan  Arus- 
pices  in  sacrifice,  probably  as  flesh-hooks,  and,   as 
we  supposed,  resembling  those  mentioned    in   the 
Bible  as  having  been  struck  into  the  seething  pot 
by  the  sons  of  Eli.     I   have  seen  them  in  various 
museums  besides,  and  I  think  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum   in    the  room   of  ancient   bronzes.      One   of 
the  rarest  sacrificial  instruments  that  has  been  dis- 
covered was  a  spoon  of  ivory,  shown  to  me  by  Mon- 
signore   Wiseman  of  the    English    College.      The 
Etruscans  used  ivory  in    profusion,  but  very  little 
of  it  has  come  down  to  us;  and  this  spoon  was  of  a 
very  singular  shape  with  elaborately  carved  orna- 
ments, and  from  its  unique  appearance  and  fragile 
material  appeared  to  me  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
relics  of  antiquity  I  had  ever  seen. 

The  Museo  Borbonico  at  Naples  has  long  been  the 
wonder  of  the  w^orld  ;  but  considering  that  it  is  little 
more  than  three  years  since  the  present  sovereign 
pontiff*  began  his  great  Etruscan  collection,  "  the 
Museo  Gregoriano,"  in  the  Vatican,  bids  fair  to 
rival,  or  even  to  surpass  it.  Too  much  praise  can- 
not be  given  to  the  Pope  for  his  taste  and  mag- 
nificence in  conceiving  the  design  of  collecting  into 
one  vast  museum  all  the  remnants  of  Etruscan  art 
and  antiquity  found  in  his  dominions.     He  has  pro- 


40 


INTRODUCTION. 


secuted  it,  and  is  prosecuting  it,  with  unremitting 
ardour;  and  when  the  name  of  Gregory  the  Sixteenth 
may  be  confounded  in  our  memories  with  tlie  many 
who  have  preceded  him  in  the  papal  chair,  the  name 
of  Gregory,  the  munificent  preserver  of  the  scat- 
tered records  of  an  ancient  world,  must  ever  be  held 
in  veneration  by  those  who  have  taste  or  learning 
sufficient  to  appreciate  the  vast  importance  and 
inestimable  value  of  his  work.  I  wish  he  would 
only  add  his  protection  to  those  extraordinary  and 
interesting  tombs  from  which  his  many  relics  and 
curiosities  are  taken.  He  is  an  enthusiastic  ad- 
mirer of  the  curious  and  beautiful  in  ancient  art, 
and  well  versed  in  the  historic  lore  of  past  ages,  and 
he  is  an  excellent  judge  of  what  rare  objects  may 
or  may  not  be  worth  his  own  expensive  purchase. 
He  has  remodelled  and  rearranged  the  Egyptian 
Museum,  in  doing  which  he  discovered  two  rooms 
amongst  the  vast  galleries  of  the  Vatican,  the 
memory  of  which  had  been  lost,  and  the  formation 
and  inspection  of  his  museums  is  his  favourite  amuse- 
ment during  the  intervals  of  business. 

As  is  to  be  expected  in  the  pet  of  a  sovereign, 
the  Gregorian  collection  is  arranged  with  the  ut- 
most taste  and  in  beautiful  order,  the  credit  of  which 
is  greatly  due  to  the  Cavaliere  Visconti,  director  of 
the  Papal  Museum.  This  was  one  of  our  favourite 
haunts  in  Rome,  although  it  was  not  until  nearly 
the  end  of  our  residence  there  that  we  were  capable 
of  fully  enjoying  it,  for  at  the  beginning  we  were 
too  ignorant  to  know  what  were  the  objects  most 


INTRODUCTION. 


41 


rare,  most  curious,  or  most  worthy  of  admiration  or 

attention.    Ignorance  however  is  always  pardonable, 

and  often  unavoidable,  upon  subjects  that  are  new ; 

but  not  so  the  pert  contempt  with  which   many  of 

our  well-educated  countrymen  treat  everything  they 

do  not  understand.     Often  used  they  to  remind   us 

of  Smellfungus,  who  coming  out  of  the  Coliseum, 

said  of  it,  "  Psha  !  it  is  nothing  but  a  huge  cockpit." 

I  wish,  however,  to  dismiss  Smellfungus  from  my 

train,  and   to  carry  my   readers,  with  what  ability 

I  may,  through  what  many  used  to  call  the  "  old 

pots  and   pans"   of  the  Museo   Gregoriano.      On 

entering   we    first   saw    a    number    of  sarcophagi 

with  recumbent  figures  on  the  lids,  some  of  great 

beauty    and    elegance,    others   stiff  and    massive, 

and  others  grotesque  and  almost  revolting.     They 

were  chiefly  in  the  style  of  Cav.   Campana  s,  and, 

as    I    remarked    before,    all    possess    a    character 

peculiar  to  themselves,  and  very  different  from  any 

works  of  the  classical  periods  of  Greece  and  Rome. 

Those  which  I  call  stiff  and  massive,  bear  a  strong 

resemblance  to  our  own  sepulchral  effigies  of  the 

middle  ages,  and  we  have  often  seen  mitred  abbots 

and  prince  bishops  chiselled  like  the  old  Lucomones, 

Among   the  terra  cotta  representations  there  is  a 

very  fine  horse's  head,  a  beautiful  relievo  of  Adonis 

and  his  dog,  and  a  most  spirited  and  elegant  statue 

of  Mercury,  which,  though  found  in  Etruria,  would 

appear  to  be  of  Roman  workmanship.     The  first 

rooms  are  entirely  filled  with  terra  cotta:  amongst 

which  one  might  easily  miss  some  rude  and  ugly,  but 


ii  '' 


42 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


43 


Tery  singular,  and,  as  the  Germans  would  say,  mark- 
worthy  sepulchral  urns.  They  stand  upon  a  shelf 
at  the  entrance  of  the  first  room,  and  were  found  at 
Albana  under  the  lava  of  a  volcano,  which  must 
have  been  extinct  before  the  foundation  of  Alba 
Longa,  three  hundred  years  prior  to  Rome.  They 
were  filled  with  ashes,  and  are  supposed  to  repre- 
sent the  huts  which  their  tenants  inhabited  during 
life.  When  first  discovered,  an  antiquity  beyond 
human  record  was  assigned  to  them,  as  they  were 
supposed  to  have  been  buried  prior  to  the  eruption 
of  lava,  under  which  they  were  found :  but  recent 
examination  has  shown  that  they  were  placed  in 
excavations  made  in,  and  under  the  lava,  and  that 
they  probably  belonged  to  the  old  Latin  inhabitants 
of  Alba  Longa.  They  are  certainly  very  interest- 
ing, and  yet  I  was  much  disappointed,  because  they 
are  not  at  all  arranged  in  the  poetic  order  in  which 
they  were  found,  and  in  which  they  used  to  be 
shown  in  the  museum  at  Albano,  shrined  within 
a  vase,  a  lamp,  knife,  style,  canceller,  and  various 
other  instruments  near  them.  Each  hut  has  an 
inscription  upon  it  in  Etruscan  characters  and 
they  are  all  shaped  by  the  hand.  They  are  also 
without  any  description  in  or  near  them,  and  I  half 
doubted  my  guide  as  to  their  being  really  the  cele- 
brated funeral  huts  of  Albano,  which,  however,  they 
are.  From  these  we  passed  on  to  numerous  speci- 
mens of  terra  cotta  in  the  very  highest  style  of 
Etruscan  art.  We  saw  tiles  ornamented  with  masks 
for  covering  the  roofs,  and  beautifully  formed  ducts 


¥ 


I 


for  letting  off  the  rain  water.     Veii  and  Vulci  were 
the  two  cities  chiefly  famed  for  this  magnificence, 
and   at  Vulci,   amidst  heaps  of  clay,   were   found 
the  forms   in    which    these   ornamented   tiles    and 
ducts    had    been    moulded  :     moulds    for    bronze 
have  been  found  in  both  towns.     Round  the  walls 
of  the  rooms   are    hung  little    votive    statues  and 
images,  such  as  we  now  see  in  silver  hung  up  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  churches,  which  were  affixed  to  the 
temples,  as  thankofferings  to  the  Divinity,  in  order 
to  commemorate  some  cure  or  piece  of  good  for- 
tune.    Of  this  kind,  innumerable  images  of  ears, 
feet,  hands,  eyes,  &c.  &:c.  of  terra  cotta,  have  been 
found  throughout  Etruria.     Many  of  these  votive 
images   have  holes    on  the   reverse  sides,    for   the 
purpose  of  attaching  them  to  the  walls.     Some  of 
them  are  portraits,  the  votive  images  of  young  wo- 
men for  instance,  which  have  been  hung  up  by  the 
husband  during  the  honeymoon,  or  perhaps  in  some 
cases  after  it,  to  commemorate  a  successful  court- 
ship.    In  the  Gregorian  as  well  as  in  private  col- 
lections,   we  saw    many  profiles  in   terra   cotta  as 
large  as   life,  which  have  all  the  marks  of  being 
portraits.     It  is  somewhat  curious,  that  whilst  the 
Etruscans  were  so  fond  of  taking  likenesses,  they 
should  have  left  so  few  remains  of  high  excellence  in 
statuary.  Some  specimens  there  undoubtedly  are,  but 
very  few  of  merit  in  marble  or  alabaster.     There  are 
some  in  terra  cotta,  and  several  in  bronze ;  but  few, 
comparatively,  of  the  vast  numbers  that  once  ex- 
isted, and  were  brought  to  Rome.     The  city  of  Vol- 


44 


INTRODUCTION, 


INTRODUCTION. 


45 


I* 


It  \ 


sinia,  or  Bolsena,  alone,  we  are  told,  contained  at 
one  time  four  thousand  of  them,  and  the  Romans 
made  war  upon  the  city  in  the  fifth  age  of  the  re- 
public, in  order  to  obtain  possession  of  them.  All 
of  these  have  perished ;  but  some  few,  found  in 
North  Etruria,  may  be  seen  in  the  museum  at 
Florence — I  think  also  at  Volterra,  and  two  remain 
in  the  Vatican.  One  is  a  boy,  ornamented  with  the 
bulla,  found  at  Tarquinia;  and  the  other  a  warrior 
found  at  Todi  two  years  since,  in  1837,  without  his 
helmet,  and  with  his  name  engraved  upon  the 
baldric  across  his  shoulders.  We  have  only  one 
Roman  monument  remaining  in  this  most  ancient 
and  severe  Etruscan  style,  and  that  is  the  famous 
wolf  of  the  Capitol. 

The  Gregorian  Museum  is  peculiarly  rich  in 
vases  and  tazze,  which  are,  perhaps,  the  most  inte- 
resting and  important  of  all  the  objects  found  in  the 
Etruscan  tombs,  for  they  impart  the  greatest  know- 
ledge of  the  mythology,  the  heroic  tradition,  and  the 
domestic  manners,  not  only  of  the  Etruscans  them- 
selves, but  of  the  Greeks,  with  whom  they  were  so 
closely  allied.  Within  the  last  fifteen  years  vases 
have  been  found  of  a  style  different  from  what  was 
known  before,  and  of  a  beauty,  both  as  to  materials 
and  execution,  superior  to  any  others,  if  we  except 
the  exquisite  specimens  from  Nola.  The  truth  of  this 
remark  will  be  evident  to  any  one  who  will  compare 
most  of  those  vases  in  the  British  Museum  marked 
as  having  belonged  to  the  late  Sir  William  Hamil- 
ton, with  those  more  recently  purchased  from  Cam- 


I 


panari.  Indeed,  about  half  a  century  ago,  immense 
sums  were  given  for  many  of  those  which,  if  sold 
now,  would  be  considered  second-rate,  and  fetch  but 
a  moderate  price;  and  in  consequence  of  the  vast 
numbers  which  recent  discoveries  have  brou2"ht  to 
light,  the  price  of  the  whole  manufacture  is  so  much 
reduced,  that  one  for  which  the  king  of  Naples, 
not  many  years  ago,  gave  ten  thousand  crowns, 
would  now  hardly  be  valued  at  more  than  two  thou- 
sand. It  is  indeed  a  gem  of  its  kind,  found  at 
Paestum,  and  either  Greco-Etruscan  or  Etrusco- 
Greek;  and  it  represents  the  Last  Night  of  Troy,  a 
subject  repeated  upon  several  of  the  vases  lately 
found  both  in  black  figures  and  red.  The  most 
ancient  vases  are  those  called  of  the  Egyptian  style, 
and  of  which  the  manner  and  subjects  are  totally 
dissimilar  from  any  others.  They  represent  rows  of 
sphynxes,  chimeras,  griffins,  harpies,  lions,  cocks, 
&c.,  and  are  party-coloured  of  red  and  black 
upon  a  pale  yellow  ground.  I  have  heard  it  dis- 
puted amongst  the  learned  whether  these  were  not 
actually  made  in  Egypt,  and  imported  into  Etruria  ; 
but  the  prevailing  opinion  amongst  antiquaries  is, 
that  they  were  native  manufacture  copied  from 
Egypt.  Black  vases,  with  friezes  of  animals  and 
ornaments  in  basso-relievo,  are  also  of  very  hio-h 
antiquity,  and  were  the  staple  manufacture  of  Vol- 
terra. Those  with  black  figures  on  a  red  ground 
come  next  in  order  ;  while  the  most  modern  are  black 
with  red  figures,  such  of  them  at  least  as  depart 
from  the  old  stiff*  Etruscan  style,  and  have  the  more 


46 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


47 


'    1 

tf 


natural  shapes  of  Greek  art ;  for  example,  those  of 
Magna  Grecia  in  general,  and  of  Nola  in  particular. 
It  was  long  before  I  knew,  and  therefore  I  mention 
it  hereto  clear  away  embarrassment  from  the  minds 
of  others,  that  these  vases  are  rarely,  if  ever,  found 
in  Italy,  excepting  in  the  tombs  of  such  towns  as 
were  of  Etruscan  origin,  though  afterwards  peopled 
by  the  Greeks.  Paestum  was  the  Etruscan  "  Phis- 
tu,"  as  is  proved  by  some  very  early  coins  in  which 
it  bears  both  names,  Phistu'^  and  Paestum.  It  was 
also  called  Posidonia  and  Poseidon  at  different 
times.  Nola,  Pompeii,  and  Herculaneum  were  all 
Etruscan  cities. 

The  most  modern  vases  cannot  be  less  than  two 
thousand  years  old,  for  if  any  had  been  manufac- 
tured during  the  last  two  centuries  which  preceded 
the  empire,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  we  should 
have  found  at  least  some  beautiful  specimens  of 
them  in  the  chambers  of  the  baths,  or  in  the 
villa  of  Adrian,  or  in  many  other  ruins  where  so 
many  fine  objects  of  art  were  accumulated,  and 
have  been  disinterred ;  but  particularly  in  the 
houses  of  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum,  where  vases 
of  terra  cotta,  not  painted,  exist  in  abundance,  but 
which  have  not  disclosed  one  Etruscan,  though 
situated  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  Nola 
and  other  towns  of  Magna  Grecia,  where  they  were 
made  in  the  highest  perfection.  It  would  appear 
that   all,    not    buried    anteriorly,    must    have  been 

*  Phistu  was  occupied  and  enlarged,  but  was  not  settled  by  the 
Lucanians. 


% 


•,v 


broken  in  the  tear  and  wear  of  household  use  or 
ornament,  and  that  the  art  had  been  long  lost 
before  that  eruption  of  Vesuvius  which  has  pre- 
served to  us  those  other  treasures  of  painting, 
mosaic,  and  bronze,  all  so  eminently  adorning  the 
cities  of  the  plain. 

As  the  era  of  the  foundation  of  Rome  was  that  of 
the  chief  grandeur  of  Etruria,  when  her  luxury  and 
magnificence  were  at  the  highest  pitch,  and  her  arts 
chiefly  flourished,  we  may  assign  that  period  for  the 
finest  vases,  while  those  called  Egyptian  bear  a 
much  earlier  date.  The  finest  vases,  to  which  we 
have  thus  assig-ned  the  ao;e  of  two  thousand  six  hun- 
dred  years,  a  few  years,  or  even  centuries,  more  or 
less,  are  in  general  black,  containing  a  large  red 
ground  with  black  figures,  in  the  draperies  of  which 
are  introduced  fawn-colour,  white,  and  purple  ;  the 
white  also  invariably  marking  the  uncovered  parts 
of  the  female  figures.  Some  of  these  vases  are 
red,  and  have  figures  entirely  black,  with  a 
stiff'ness  and  peculiarity  in  the  forms  and  propor- 
tions, which  denote  a  high  antiquity  and  an  Etrus- 
can origin ;  and  sometimes  the  most  thoroughly 
primitive,  which  the  Roman  antiquaries  used  to 
puzzle  my  brain  by  calling  "  Archaic'"*  exclusively, 
art  of  the  finest  material  and  most  exquisite 
finish.  Indeed  the  most  delicately  beautiful  vase 
in   our    own    small    collection    is   one    of   party- 

•  Some  of  the  dealers  in  Rome  called  this  Archaic  style  "  the 
Perugino  ;**  occupying  with  regard  to  vases  the  same  place  which  that 
master  did  with  regard  to  painters. 


48 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


49 


coloured  figures,  of  a  style  so  stiff  and  peculiar, 
that  connoisseurs  have  assigned  to  it  the  most 
remote  antiquity,  and  it  is  so  rare,  that  among 
many  thousands  I  have  only  seen  three  that  resem- 
bled it. 

There  has  long  been  a  question  as  to  whether 
these  vases  were  made  in  Etruria,  or  were  imported 
from  Greece.  Persons  who  favour  the  latter  hypo- 
thesis, remark  that  in  all  the  finest  specimens,  the 
subjects  of  mythology  and  heroic  tradition  are  al- 
most exclusively  Greek,  and  that  Tages  and  Tar- 
chon,  or  subjects  peculiarly  Etruscan,  are  rarely 
found,  whilst  the  exploits  of  Hercules,  and  the 
stories  of  Troy  and  Thebes,  are  of  constant  recur- 
rence. In  the  history  of  Etruria  we  shall  show 
that  there  is  a  fallacy  in  this  remark  ;  but  admitting 
it  to  be  true,  we  may  reply  that  the  divinities  of 
Greece  and  Etruria  were  in  a  great  measure  the 
same :  that  the  intermixture  of  Pelasgic  descent 
in  the  Etruscans  must  have  connected  them  inti- 
mately w  ith  Greek  heroic  tradition,  besides  that  the 
fame  of  the  Greek  heroes,  and  the  renown  of  their 
exploits,  were  early  spread  over  the  whole  civilized 
world.  It  is  probable  that  the  life  of  the  Etruscans 
during  the  ages  of  their  national  prosperity,  was 
rather  one  of  substantial  enjoyment  and  magnificent 
ceremonial,  than  of  romantic  adventure  or  poetic  ima- 
gination, and  that  they  naturally  borrowed,  for  repre- 
sentation, the  interesting  and  striking  subjects  of 
Colchis,  Thebes,  and  Troy,  in  preference  to  more 
domestic   incidents,   as   we   often   do  at   this   day. 


Indeed,  are  not  our  painters  and  poets  continually 
taking  subjects  from  the  Crusades,  the  Paladins  of 
Charlemagne,  and  the  Moors  of  Grenada,  rather 
than  from  stories  nearer  home,  namely,  the  Wars  of 
the  Roses,  or  the  great  Rebellion  ? 

The  comparatively  few  remains  of  painted  vases, 
and  the  still  fewer  distinguished  for  subject  or 
for  beauty,  which  have  been  found  in  Greece  it- 
self, would  almost  lead  us  to  retort  the  charge,  and 
say  that  they  had  been  imported  thither  from 
Etruria,  were  it  not  from  our  knowledge  that 
Etruria  herself  had  received  considerable  aid  and 
improvement  from  Greece,  as  is  shown  in  the  story 
of  Demaratus  and  the  artists  Eucheir  and  Eujrram- 
mas,  who  accompanied  him  from  Corinth  to  Tar- 
quinia. 

The  most  probable  theory  appears  to  be,  that 
the  art  of  making  these  beautiful  vases  was  brought 
at  some  early  time,  long  before  the  Trojan  war, 
from  1^-^gypt  into  Etruria,  and  was  there  carried  to 
the  highest  degree  of  perfection,  in  the  excellence 
of  material  and  minute  beauty  of  detail,  as  in  the 
black  figured  vases  which  I  have  mentioned.  In 
another  place  it  will  be  seen  that  Eucheir  and  Eu- 
grammas,  the  one  meaning  clever  hand,  and  the 
other  cunning  pencil,  were  probably  not  men,  as 
their  names  denote,  but  types  of  a  considerable  body 
of  artists  from  Greece,  settled  in  Etruria,  and  who 
founded  a  new  school  of  art,  in  which  they  en- 
grafted upon  primitive  models  all  the  freedom  of 
nature  and  symmetry  of  form,  for  which  their  coun- 

D 


50 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTBODrCTION. 


61 


trymen  were  so  celebrated.  Thus  we  may  suppose 
the  red  figured  vases,  which  exist  in  great  num- 
bers in  Etruria,  and  many  of  which  are  scarcely  in- 
ferior to  the  finest  of  those  from  Nola,  to  be  the 
result  of  this  more  recent  Greek  improvement. 

The  subject  is  entirely  one  of  conjecture,  and  we 
have  as  yet  no  accurate  data,  or  too  little  to  esta- 
blish certainty,  because  the  love  of  gam,  and  not  of 
science,  has  hitherto  presided  over  the  excavations ; 
and  the  vases  which  we  see  in  museums  have  been 
torn  from  their  tombs,  and  ranged  together  dis- 
joined,  in  ninety-nine  instances  out  of  a  hundred, 
from  every  collateral  circumstance  which  might 
assist  us  in  determining  their  relative  antiquity. 

Among  many  more  minute  subdivisions,   1  will 
merely  note  here  four  grand  differences  of  style  m 
these  vases.    First,  the  Egyptian  with  its  harpies 
and  sphynxes ;    in  total  defiance  of  nature  and  in 
disregard  of  Greek  mythology,  or  heroic  tradition. 
Secondly,  the  black  figures;  quaint,  stiff,  and  pecu- 
liar of  the  most  beautiful  workmanship,  but  without 
ease  or  grace,  in  the  human  outline ;  with  splendid 
processions  of  warriors,  groups  of  divinities,  and 
mysterious  allegories.     Thirdly,  the  red  figures  with 
the   most  spirited  and  elegant  forms  of  men  and 
women,  true  to  nature,  and  sometimes  absolutely 
lovely,  representing  stories  of  gods  and  heroes,  as 
well  as  incidents  of  domestic  life.    You  will  rarely 
sec  a  black  figure  easy,  natural,  or  graceful,  however 
exquisite  may  be  the  beauty  of  its  workmanship ; 
and  you  will  seldom  be  able  to  trace  in  a  red  figure 


I 


that  peculiar  stiff  and  rigid  quaintness,  which  is 
characteristic  of  the  most  ancient  Etruscan  art. 
Those  black  figures  which  have  a  sketchy  and  flow- 
ing ease,  are  on  vases  of  very  inferior  material  and 
execution  ;  and  belong  to  the  period  of  the  decay 
of  art,  like  the  roughly  drawn  red  figures,  which  are 
so  common,  and  which  we  may  call,  fourthly,  the 
decadence  style,  not  native,  but  imitative.  I  am 
aware  that  this  loose  attempt  at  classification  is 
unsatisfactory,  for  many  vases  both  black  and  red 
figured  are  found,  so  greatly  differing  from  others 
of  their  own  colour,  as  to  deserve  a  separate  sub- 
division ;  but  this  would  severely  tax  my  limited 
knowledge  of  the  subject,  as  well  as  prove  tiresome 
to  the  reader.  These  are  the  usual  heads  under 
which  the  guides  class  them  as  a  mass ;  and  will 
give  us  the  Egyptian,  Etruscan,  Greek,  and  what, 
perhaps,  we  may  call  the  Roman  style,  as  the 
progressive  dates  of  style  upon  the  vases. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  give  a  catalogue  of 
those  in  the  Gregorian  Museum,  but  only  to  ob- 
serve that  two  large  halls  and  two  long  galleries 
are  filled  with  the  most  beautiful  specimens  of  them, 
whether  we  regard  symmetry  of  form,  fineness  of 
material,  variety  of  subject,  or  elegance  of  execu- 
tion. None  are  unworthy  of  a  place  in  the  Vatican, 
which  is  more  than  can  be  said  of  the  Museo  Bor- 
bonico,  though  indeed  the  circumstances  of  their 
collection  are  very  different,  which  one  should  not 
forget ;  yet  it  strikes  a  stranger  of  these  days,  that 
whilst  there  are  in  that  collection  some — as  for  in- 

D  2 


I 


52 


INTRODUCTION. 


Stance  the  last  night  of  Troy,  and  the  battle  be- 
tween the  Greeks  and  Amazons— superior  to  any 
others  in  the  world,  there  is  a  vast  proportion 
that  do  not  deserve  to  be  regarded.  Also  the 
beautiful  old  black  figures,  characteristic  of  the 
genuine    Etruscan   style,   exist   only   in   a   limited 

number. 

In  the  Vatican  a  stranger  soon  learns  to  distin- 
guish, from  the  form,  colour,  and  manner  of  repre- 
sentation,  to  what  part  of  the  Peninsula  he  may 
refer  any  given  number  of  vases  ;  for  instance,   the 
red  with  red  bassi  relievi  to  Arezzo  ;  the  black  with 
black  bassi  relievi  to  Volterra  ;  the  eyes  to  Canino, 
or  Sicily  f  the  black  figures  to  the  cities  round  Civita 
Vecchia ;  the  taper  forms  to  Campania,  and  so  forth. 
The  tazze  are  much  more  rare,  and    less  easily  dis- 
tinguished, than  the  vases;  also  fine  and  perfect 
specimens  of  them  bear  a  much  higher  value,  because, 
from  their  greater  fragility  of  form  and  texture,  they 
are    more   easily    destroyed,   and    much    seldomer 
found  uninjured.     Of  these,  the  pope's  collection  is 
certainly  unrivalled.     A  long  gallery  is  filled  with 
ihem,  and  they  are  all  worthy  of  attention,  either 
from  their  uncommon  size,  the  beauty  of  their  draw- 
ings, or  the   importance  of  their  subjects.     It  was 
not  without  pride  that  we  observed  none,  even  here, 
superior  to  one  in    our    own   possession    found    at 
Viterbo,  either  as  to  size,  form,  subject,  elegance  of 
desio-n,  or  beauty  of  workmanship.     A  really  beau- 

•  These  vases  are  found  in  Sicily,  though  they  were  not  manufac- 
tured there. 


INTRODUCTION. 


53 


tiful  tazza  is  a  great  prize.  These,  as  well  as  the 
vases,  were  used  in  the  temples  for  public  worship, 
and  the  forms  of  them  were  taken  from  the  do- 
mestic vessels  of  the  people,  and  many  of  those 
found  in  the  tombs  of  a  coarse  and  unpainted, 
or  a  rudely  painted  kind,  were  common  domestic 
utensils,  and  had  been  used  for  wine,  water, 
oil,  honey,  barley,  &c.  &c.  The  jars  with  three 
handles  were  appropriated  to  women,  and  those 
with  two  handles  to  men.  In  the  red  vases  with 
black  figures,  the  white  paint  which  marks  a  female 
face  is  often  rubbed  or  worn  off,  and  then  the  sex 
is  known  by  the  form  of  the  eye,  the  men  having 
always  round  eyes,  and  the  women,  or  goddesses, 
long  ones.  The  commonest  subjects  are  either  races, 
or  a  winged  genius  giving  to  the  dead  hero  the  cup 
of  immortality. 

Here  I  first  learned  to  know  the  Etruscan  mode 
of  representing  characters.  For  instance,  a  genius 
is  winged.  A  satyr  has  asses'  ears  and  a  tail 
either  long  or  short.  A  faun  has  hoofs,  and  pro- 
bably goats'  feet.  Bacchus  is  an  old  or  a  young 
man  crowned  with  ivy  and  drinking  wine,  or 
at  any  rate  with  the  thyrsus.  Mercury  has  the 
caduceus,  Minerva  the  helmet  and  spear,  Juno  the 
diadem,  Apollo  the  lyre,  and  Hercules  uniformly 
the  club.  Hercules  and  Minerva  were  the  most 
generally  honoured  of  the  Etruscan  divinities,  the 
one  representing  the  most  valuable  qualities  of  a 
man's  body,  and  the  other  of  his  soul.  They  were 
the  excellences  of  flesh  and  spirit,  and  according  to 


54 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


55 


Etruscan  mythology  they  were  man  and  wife.     Mi- 
nerva has  usually  a  very  fine  face  with  that  straight 
line  of  feature  which  we  call  Grecian,  but  which,  from 
the  sepulchral    paintings  and  the  votive  offerings, 
would  appear  also  to  have  been  native.     Hercules 
has  a   prominent  and  peaky  chin,  and  something 
altogether  remarkably  sharp  in  his  features,  which, 
from  the  evidence  of  vases  and  scarabei  together, 
would  appear  to  have  been  the    conventional  form 
of  depicting  a  warrior.     It  was  probably  given  to  sig- 
nify vigilance  and  energy.     A  friend  of  mine  used 
to  call  it,  not  inaptly, ''  The  ratcatcher  style.''    Nep- 
tune bears  the  trident,   Jove   the    thunderbolt    or 
sceptre,  and  these  attributes  are  sometimes  appended 
to    the  most   grotesque   figures    when   the  Etrus- 
cans have  been  representing  some  Greek  fable,  or 
some  native  version  of  the  same  story.     This  may 
be  seen  on  one  vase  where  Jove  is  entering  a  win- 
dow, accompanied  by   Mercury,  to  visit  Alcmena. 
Jovehas  just  taken  his  foot  off  the  ladder,  and  in 
my  ignorance  1  looked  at   the  clumsy  but  extraor- 
dinary vase,  thinking  that  the  figures  represented 
Punch ;  and   though   I   give   the   learned  and   re- 
ceived version  of  the  story,  I  am  at  this  moment 
not  convinced  that  I  was  wrong,  for  I  do  not  believe 
the   professor  who  pointed  it  out  to  me,  notwith- 
standing all  his   learning,   extensive  and  profound 
as  it  was,  knew  that  Punch  was  an  Etruscan  amuse- 
ment.   Supposing  it,  however,  to  have  been  Punch, 
the  piece  acted  was  certainly  Giove  and  Alcmena. 
Subjects  from  the  siege  of  Thebes  were  probably 


prior  to  those  of  Troy,  and  are  engraved  also   on 
the  scarabei. 

In  the  Gregorian  Museum  I  learned,  that 
though  we  had  been  pleased  to  call  the  gods  we 
saw  Greek,  and  to  name  them  Jupiter,  Juno,  &;c., 
they  were  not  called  so  by  the  Etruscans,  and  were 
no  more  Greek  than  representations  of  the  same 
characters  under  Egygtian  forms  were  Greek.  What 
I  mean  is,  that  though  Osiris  represents  the  sun, 
and  Isis  the  moon,  no  one  thinks  of  calling  these 
divinities  Apollo  and  Diana;  because  Apollo  and 
Diana  are  the  representations  of  those  powers  pe- 
culiarly Grecian,  as  Osiris  and  Isis  are  peculiarly 
Egyptian.  It  is  the  same  with  the  Etruscan  deities. 
What  I  looked  upon  was  not  Greek  Pallas,  but 
Etruscan  Minerva ;  Jupiter  was  called  Tina  ;  Juno, 
Talna,  or  Kupra;  Venus,  Turan ;  Apollo,  Aplu ; 
Mercury,  Turms,  (hence  Hermes) ;  Cupid,  Epeur, 
Hercules,  Erkle  ;  and  so  of  others.  This  is  known 
from  the  vases  or  bronze  spechj  in  which  the 
names  are  engraved,  over  and  beside  the  figures, 
sometimes  read  from  right  to  left,  sometimes  from 
left  to  right,  sometimes  from  top  to  bottom,  and 
sometimes  vice  versa.  The  Greeks  had  a  most  per- 
plexing way  of  appropriating  every  thing  to  them- 
selves  as  the  "  grande  nation "  of  antiquity,  and 
translating  proper  names  of  persons  and  places 
until  it  is  almost  impossible  to  recognise  them. 
As  we  English  call  Aachen,  Aix-la-Chapelle ; 
Firenze,  Florence ;  Giuseppe,  Joseph ;  and  so  forth. 
When  in  the  Gregorian  Museum  we  stood  before 


56 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


57 


a  vase  on  which  was  painted  the  judgment  of 
Paris,  instead  of  saying,  as  we  did,  here  are  Juno, 
Pallas,  and  Venus,  conducted  by  Mercury,  we  ought 
to  have  said,  "here  are  Talna,  Menifra,  and  Turan, 
conducted  by  Turms."  It  is,  however,  so  far  cor- 
rect to  use  the  names  we  do,  that  all  the  Roman 
mythology,  and  all  that  has  come  down  to  us  of 
early  notions  respecting  these  gods,  was  taken 
from  Etruria,  and  the  names  became  gradually  al- 
tered, with  the  introduction  of  the  Greek  mania,  the 
conquest  of  Etruria  in  which  so  much  of  the  bitter- 
ness of  civil  war  had  place,  ?nd  the  great  change 
in  the  Latin  tongue. 

Among  the  prized  monuments  of  this  museum 
are  two  mended  vases.  One  of  them  is  mended  in 
three  places,  and  they  were  so  found  in  the  tombs ; 
a  double  proof  that  they  must  have  been  articles 
of  expense  and  value  in  ancient  times,  when  the 
relatives  of  the  deceased  had  not  found  it  convenient 
in  a  public  ceremony  to  supply  their  places  with 
whole  ones,  and  when  they  had  taken  the  trouble 
with  some  skill  to  repair  them.  Our  grand  Viterbo 
tazza,  which  I  have  already  mentioned,  had  also 
been  mended  before  its  interment ;  a  circumstance 
which  was  discovered  by  Deudominicis  to  his  in- 
finite surprise  and  satisfaction,  and  which  enhanced 
its  value  in  our  eyes.  It  has  a  small  cylinder 
of  iron  run  through  the  bottom  of  the  tazza  to 
join  it  with  the  stalk.  The  manufacture  of  these 
vases  is  of  a  clay  found  abundantly  in  Etruria, 
and  they  were  to  a  limited  extent  articles   of  com- 


merce from  one  city  to  another,  at  least  in  some 
instances  :  the  forms,  colours,  and  subjects  of  them 
being  different  in  different  places.  The  Nola  vases 
are  said  sometimes  to  be  found  in  the  cemeteries 
we  visited,  and  I  was  told  in  Rome  that  four  of 
our  own  collection  which  came  from  Tarquinia  were 
of  Nola  manufactory.  I  think,  however,  this  may 
be  doubted. 

Restorations  are  of  two  kinds,  lawful  and  unlaw- 
ful :  in  the  former,  the  fragments  are  sufficiently 
perfect  fully  to  show  the  subject  of  the  painting, 
with  all  its  figures,  emblems,  and  devices  ;  and  the 
restorer's  task  merely  is  to  eke  out  the  little  that  is 
imperfect,  or  to  reproduce  that  which,  though  visible, 
is  very  much  decayed  ;  while,  in  the  latter,  very 
few  of  the  principal  figures  remaining,  and  even  the 
subject  itself  being  uncertain,  the  restorer  exer- 
cises his  fancy  in  determining  the  group,  and  his 
taste  or  judgment  in  the  arrangement  of  the  cos- 
tume and  action.  1  will  illustrate  my  meaning  by 
an  example; — Suppose  the  vase  to  be  restored, 
when  quite  perfect,  to  have  represented  Hercules 
bringing  the  boar  to  Eurystheus,  who  is  hiding  him- 
self in  a  well,  (a  subject  which  I  have  seen  on  several 
vases,)  and  suppose  the  remaining  fragments  to  show 
Hercules,  with  his  club,  and  Eurystheus  peeping 
out  of  the  well,  but  instead  of  the  boar  on  Hercules' 
shoulders,  there  is  a  broken  gap,— a  lawful  restorer 
might  reproduce  the  boar  and  hoist  him  as  before 
on  the  shoulders  of  the  demigod,  and  the  vase  would 
be   considered  almost  as  valuable  as  it  was  when 

d5 


58 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


59 


perfect.  But  suppose  nothing  of  the  original  to  re- 
main but  the  legs,  lion's  skin,  and  club  of  Hercules, 
a  restorer,  by  an  unlawful  act  of  forgery,  might  join 
thereunto  a  modern  piece  of  terra  cotta,  painted 
with  Eurystheus,  his  well,  and  the  boar,  exactly 
copied  from  another  vase.  This  might  be  so  skil- 
fully done  as  to  deceive  a  novice,  but  it  would  be 
detected  immediately  by  any  one  conversant  with 
ancient  art,  and  the  vase  would  be  quite  valueless. 
I  used  often  to  wonder  whether  these  vases  were  not 
stamped  like  so  much  of  our  china-w^are  ;  but  when 
I  came  to  observe  the  number  which  are  collected  in 
museums,  and  to  see  that,  though  of  the  same  form, 
and  in  the  same  style  and  of  the  same  sizes,  and  with 
representationsof  the  same  subject,  scarcely  two, — 
perhaps  I  might  say  no  two, — are  ever  found  exactly 
alike,  I  became  easily  convinced  that  they  were  all 
done  by  the  hand  like  any  other  kind  of  painting, 
by  different  artists,  and  in  successive  periods. 

Many  vases  have  Greek  subjects  represented  upon 
them  by  the  Etruscan  artists  in  a  national  manner, 
the  story  being  Greek,  and  the  dress,  scenery  and 
other  accompaniments  Etruscan.  The  sphynx  is  thus 
painted  upon  a  lovely  little  tazza  in  the  Pope's  gallery, 
whilst  we  have  the  same  subject  upon  a  large  vase  dif- 
ferently treated.  On  the  tazza  in  the  Vatican  (Edipus 
is  alone,  and  the  sphynx  is  chained  to  a  pillar  like  a 
watch-dog  ;  whilst  on  the  vase  QEdipus  has  some  ac- 
companying figure,  like  a  servant  or  guide,  and  the 
sphynx  is  at  liberty  upon  her  native  rock.  The  anti- 
quaries who  visited  us  used  commonly  to  quote  the 


II 


I 
I. 


vases  in  proof  of  any  assertions  they  made  with  re- 
spect to  Etruscan  faith  and  customs.  For  instance, 
Cav.  Visconti  explained  to  me  the  subject  of  a  very 
fine  scarabeus  found  at  Chiusi.  It  w^as  Hercules  with 
a  semicircular  rod  over  his  shoulders,  at  each  end  of 
which  hangs  a  man.  "  This,'*  he  said,  "  is  Hercules 
and  the  Kercopes,  known  from  a  vase  on  which  their 
names  are  written."  The  Kercopes  were  a  set  of 
thieves  w^ho  infested  Sicily,  and  according  to  the 
Greeks  were  turned  into  monkeys ;  but  according 
to  the  Etruscans  they  were  slain  by  Hercules,  i.  e. 
destroyed  by  the  strength  and  valour  of  the  in- 
habitants, which  is  somewhat  the  more  probable  of 
the  two.  The  process  of  making  bronze  statues  is 
known  from  a  vase  now  at  Berlin,  on  which  it  is 
depicted,  each  separate  piece  being  laid  by  itself  as 
it  is  taken  out  of  the  mould.  Thus  also  are  known 
the  whole  of  the  public  games :  wTcstling,  cock- 
fighting,  dice,  casting  lots;  races  by  chariots,  horse 
or  foot,  and  I  say.  Punch.  From  them  also  do  we 
learn,  that  the  Etruscans  had  human  sacrifices,  and 
it  is  almost  superfluous  to  add,  that  vases  are  the 
most  numerous  and  best  elucidations,  both  of  their 
o-ames  and  of  their  mythology.  From  them  we 
learn  that  the  Etruscans  wore  wigs  upon  occasions 
of  ceremony  like  the  Persians,  and  false  beards  like 
the  Egyptians ;  and  that  when  a  virgin  died,  the 
virgins,  her  companions,  used  for  some  days  after  to 
carry  water  upon  their  heads  to  her  tomb.  In  short, 
the  Italians  look  upon  them  as  a  sort  of  picture 
language,  more   full,  intelligible,  and  satisfactory. 


/ 


60 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


61 


than  is  to  be  found  upon  any  other  "old  pots'*  at 
present  known.  On  one  of  ours  the  handle  ter- 
minates in  a  man's  thumb,  the  nail  of  which  is  cut 
exactly  like  that  of  a  bronze  hand  in  the  Vatican, 
and  similar  to  the  Greek  fashion,  i.  e.  perfectly 
square.  The  style  of  the  vases,  and  the  manner  of 
treating  the  subjects  upon  them,  is  quite  different  in 
different  cities,  even  when  the  groups  and  subjects 
themselves  are  the  same  ;  and  this  is  very  easily 
observed  in  the  Vatican,  and  used  to  be  very  in- 
teresting to  us.  One  of  the  black  Volterra  vases, 
with  black  bassi  relievi  in  an  Egyptian  style,  bears 
a  Pelasgic  inscription,  and  there  are  two  most  beau- 
tiful red  arezzo  vases  with  red  bassi  relievi,  quite 
perfect  and  highly  adorned.  These  vases  are  hardly 
ever  found  whole,  and  therefore  these  two  are 
esteemed  of  immense  worth. 

The  ancient  Etruscan  bronzes  of  the  Museum 
are  contained  in  a  single  room,  and  are  not  very 
numerous  though  of  high  interest.  There  are  a  few 
altars,  and  one  of  them  still  filled  with  the  ashes  of 
the  sacrifice  ;  one  of  a  very  peculiar  shape  we  have 
depicted  upon  a  Toscania  vase  in  our  possession ; 
it  is  like  a  dumb-waiter  with  many  shelves.  There 
is  a  war  chariot,  but,  from  all  that  I  could  learn,  it 
is  about  as  much  Etruscan  as  the  school-boy's  knife 
was  original ;  and  there  are  a  great  number  of 
arms  and  detached  pieces  of  armour.  We  saw  a 
set  of  bronze  idols  from  Cere,  of  which  we  have  a 
duplicate ;  and  from  the  same  place  were  some  very 
finely  worked  and  polished  clay  ones  of  Egyptian 


)i 


I 


form.  A  \finged  Minerva,  which  I  fancy  is  a 
unique  representation  in  bronze ;  several  shields 
with  stamped  figures  in  the  boss ;  and  a  very  re- 
markable cista  of  bronze  found  at  Toscanella,  on 
which  the  Amazons  are  represented,  and  as  it  would 
appear,  by  a  different  hand  from  that  which  made 
the  chest.  The  "  cista"  is  merely  a  small  box  which 
was  used  in  some  temples  to  contain  sacred  emblems 
for  the  mysteries.  On  another  side  of  this  room 
are  a  number  of  spechj,  which  being  rare  are 
reckoned  very  valuable.  As  they  are  constantly 
represented  on  the  vases  ni  the  hand  of  a  nymph,  or 
female  figure,  who  appears  to  be  looking  into  what 
she  holds,  this  instrument  is  decided  to  have  been 
the  looking-glass  of  the  Etruscan  ladies.  On  the 
vases,  I  conceive  the  figure  looking  is  intended  to 
see  either  backward  into  time,  or  forward  into 
eternity ;  but  as  articles  of  the  wardrobe  I  shall  only 
say,  that  the  spechj  are  always  of  bronze,  and  I 
have  seen  them  with  a  polish  like  steel.  We  have 
one  ourselves  of  a  very  fine  quality,  and  which 
would  perfectly  reflect  the  countenance  did  we  dare 
to  cleanse  it  of  its  rust,  but  the  bronzes  of  Mid 
Etruria  have  not  lasted  in  general  like  those  of  Her- 
culaneum  and  Pompeii.  They  are  indeed  some 
thousand  years  older,  but  still  time  and  damp  have 
done  their  work  upon  them,  and  they  are,  more  often 
than  not,  crumbling  to  decay.  Some  of  the  Vatican 
spechj  have  been  gilt,  and  have  very  rich  subjects, 
with  inscriptions  upon  them  on  the  concave  side. 
They  are  not  less  useful  than  the  vases,  the  scarabei, 


62 


INTRODUCTION. 


If 


and  the  sepulchral  bassi  relievi,  and  sculpture,  for 
giving  an  idea  of  Etruscan  faith  and  customs— and 
some  very  curious  discoveries  have  been  made  from 
them.  They  also  show  a  school  of  art  purely  native  ; 
for  whether  the  figures  and  groups  upon  them  be 
dissolute  and  extravagant,  or  stiff  and  ugly,  or  light 
and  soft;  they  always  keep  their  own  peculiar 
stamp,  and  differ  essentially  from  the  Greek.  The 
spechj  which  have  been  hung  round  the  sides  of  the 
tombs  have  usually  some  engraving  upon  them. 
The  commonest  subjects  are  either  a  single-winged 
o-enius  or  two  fio-ures  with  or  without  wings,  but  the 
spechj  in  the  Vatican  have  often  engravings  of  six 
or  seven  figures  grouped  together. 

In  the  middle  of  this  room  stands  a  very  large 
round  table,  divided  into  compartments  from  the 
centre  outwards,  and  covered  with  glass.  It  re- 
volves upon  a  pivot  easily,  so  that  every  one  may 
turn  to  himself  the  object  he  wishes  to  examine 
without  the  trouble  of  careering  round  it.  In  these 
compartments  are  deposited  the  numerous  and 
splendid  gold  ornaments  and  gems  which  have  been 
found  upon  the  dead.  There  are  a  number  of 
wreaths  of  pure  and  thin  gold,  of  very  great  beauty 
and  imposing  magnificence,  large  enough  to  go 
half  round  the  head;  some  are  of  great  breadth, 
consisting  of  many  folds  of  leaves,  and  others  of  a 
single  fold.  I  think  they  all  meet  in  the  middle,  so 
that  one  side  is  a  copy  of  the  other.  They  were  of 
ivy,  bay,  olive,  and  a  leaf  which  looked  to  me  like 
fern.     I  did  not  observe  that  the  Corona  Etrusca  of 


INTRODUCTION. 


63 


■| 


oak  leaves  was  among  them,  but  many  of  them  are 
exactly  represented  upon  the  coins  of  the  Roman 
Emperors,  the  ornament  having  been  adopted  into 
Rome  from  Etruria.*  In  another  compartment 
were  bullas  exquisitely  worked,  and  of  the  size  of 
watches.  They  were  worn  by  youths  in  the  centre 
of  the  chest,  and  usually  filled  with  perfumes  to 
prevent  infection  and  the  evil  eye.  They  w  ere  alike 
amulets  and  a  sign  of  patrician  rank,  and  were 
introduced  into  Rome  by  Tarquinius  Priscus.  The 
graves  in  which  they  are  found  may  have  been 
those  of  triumphers,  but  I  am  more  inclined  to 
believe  they  were  those  of  young  and  gallant  men, 
cut  off  in  their  prime,  because  it  was  about  such 
that  the  ancients  of  all  countries  used  to  accumulate 
their  most  precious  and  most  touching  emblems  ;  a 
race  lost,  a  ship  wrecked,  a  column  broken.  We  saw 
bracelets,  armlets,  and  rings,  broad  and  narrow, 
large  and  small,  but  I  think  the  most  general  form 
was  that  of  a  serpent  coiled  round  several  times,  and 
made  of  elastic  gold.  We  see  the  form  often  upon 
Greek  and  Roman  statues,  and  almost  always  upon 
the  Etruscan  monumental  figures.  Upon  them  also 
are  represented  many  different  sorts  of  rings,  some 
low  down  upon  the  finger,  and  some  upon  the  first 
joint.     In  the  jewel  table  were  many  joint  rings,  and 


*  Since  this  was  written  a  crown  of  golden  oak  leaves  has  been 
found  in  a  tomb  at  Chiusi,  and  a  beautiful  diadem  of  myrtle  leaves 
has  been  found  in  another  tomb  at  Vulci.  Both  have  been  brought 
to  this  country  by  Signer  D.  Campanari,  and  were  lately  to  be  seen 
at  his  house  in  London. 


64 


INTRODUCTION. 


large  rings,  as  well  as  finger  scarabei ;  some  of  them 
are  rudely  and  some  very  beautifully  engraved  in 
that  high  style  which  approaches  so  near  to  the 
Greek,  and  in  which  I  have  a  Mercury,  the  date  of 
which  is  assigned  to  the  first  century  of  Rome.  These 
scarabei  with  gold  swivels  were  only  worn  by  patri- 
cians, and  it  amazes  me  that  the  Romans,  who  took 
from  the  Etruscans  the  knightly  ring,  at  first  worn 
by  senators  only,  and  I  suspect  a  sign  of  authority 
as  well  as  of  rank,  should  never  have  taken  from 
them  the  scarabeus.  When  a  Roman  was  on  his 
deathbed,  he  took  off  his  ring  and  gave  it  to  the 
person  who  was  to  be  his  heir,  thereby  devolving 
upon  him  his  inheritance ;  a  custom  probably 
borrowed  from  the  Etruscans,  though  this  is  a 
point  not  ascertained ;  but  the  scarabeus  seems 
never  to  have  been  taken  off;  it  was  the  wearer's 
amulet  in  life,  by  which  he  endeavoured  to  place 
himself  always  under  divine  protection  ;  and  it 
quitted  him  not  in  death,  when  that  protection  was 
found  to  be  still  more  indispensable.  I  could  not  help 
saying  to  myself,  "  These  heathen  wished  to  have 
the  divine  presence  always  with  them — do  we  in 
any  form  seek,  or  even  desire  it? — Wherein  are  we 
better  than  they  ?" 

The  scarabei  were  not  only  buried,  but  occasion- 
ally also  burnt  with  the  bodies.  I  have  five  in  my 
collection  of  onyx  and  cornelian  burnt,  and  two  or 
three  I  remarked  in  this  table.  I  take  it  they  are 
of  a  later  date  than  either  the  Egyptian  or  the  so- 


INTRODUCTION. 


65 


called  Greek  ones,  because  in  early  ages  there  were 
few  examples  in  the  southern  part  of  Mid  Etruria 
of  the  great  men  being  burnt.  This  was  the  custom 
of  the  north.  It  is  evident  that  the  scarabei  were 
often  not  intended  for  seals,  because  the  engraving 
gives  an  impression  in  a  wrong  position  :  as  suppose 
a  man  standing  by  his  horse,  the  man  will  appear 
upon  the  left  side.  There  was  one  smalto  scarabeus, 
very  likely  brought  from  Egypt,  smalto  being  as 
proper  to  the  one  country  as  cornelian  was  to  the 
other.  The  Etruscans  wore  rings  besides  the  sca- 
rabei, which  were  signets,  and  which  were  the  ori- 
ginal of  the  Roman  knight's  ring  set  in  massive  gold; 
and  these  are  also  found  in  their  ancient  graves, 
though  rarely. 

In  the  days  of  the  empire,  some  centuries  later 
than  any  of  the  ornaments  in  the  bronze-room 
table,  but  when  the  Romans  came  much  nearer  in 
their  funeral  rites  to  the  Etruscan  customs  than  at 
any  period  during  the  republic,  the  signet  ring, 
after  being  taken  off,  was  often  returned  to  the 
body,  and  even  burnt  with  it ;  but  I  suspect  that 
Etruscan  magnificence  was  then  extinct ;  so  that  if 
this  custom  was  at  all  copied  from  Etruria,  it  was 
through  tradition,  and  not  from  anything  then  ex- 
tant. The  monumental  figures  certainly  show  that 
both  men  and  women  amongst  the  Etruscans  wore 
many  rings  which  were  never  buried  with  them ; 
therefore,  what  we  saw  may  have  been  restored  to 
the  bodies  of  very  illustrious  persons,  or  they  may 


66 


INTRODUCTION. 


have  been  suffered  to  remain  upon  the  fingers  of 
warriors,  whose  hands  had  swelled  so  much  that 
they  could  not  be  taken  off  without  mutilation,  or 
upon  such  as  died  without  heirs.  Certain  it  is,  that 
while  the  finger-ring  is  often  found  in  Roman 
tombs,  seldom  any  gem  but  the  scarabeus,or  a  golden 
serpent,  is  found  in  the  Etruscan. 

We  saw  several  chains  of  a  workmanship  like  the 
eastern  nations ;  many  large  gold  fibulae  to  fasten  on 
the  toga,  gold  brooches  of  exquisite  finish;  and  an  orna- 
ment in  which  the  Etruscans  displayed  much  variety 
of  taste,  the  ear-ring.  They  are  often  large,  and  of 
very  graceful  forms  when  all  gold,  sometimes  in  the 
shape  of  horses'  or  rams'  heads,  and  sometimes  like 
cupids,or  genii,  or  birds.  On  the  monu- 
mental figures  they  are  commonly  of 
this  form  or  like  a  wine  vessel  or  ahorn. 
Often  they  are  small  circles  with  a  pen- 
dant pearl,  and  oftenest  of  all, there  are 
jacynths  of  a  cylindrical  form,  either  large  or  small, 
set  in  gold.  They  have  very  commonly  been  sol- 
dered into  the  ears  of  either  the  living  subject  or  the 
corpse,  and  in  some  late  instances  the  ear  and  ear- 
ring have  come  away  together.* 

After  examining  this  table  with  great  admiration, 
for  it  is  certainly  the  finest  collection  known  of 
ancient  ornaments,  though  the  Prince  of  Canino 
may  very  likely  rival  it,  we  passed  through  a  dark 
passage  where  there  are  a  quantity  of  sculptured 

*  This  has  happened  at  Cervetri. 


INTRODUCTION. 


67 


cinerary  urns,   and  Etruscan    stones  with  long  in- 
scriptions, which  wait  to  be  deciphered  by  the  mo- 
dern scholars  of  the  old  Agyllan  warrior ;  and  then 
we  were  ushered  into  a  large  hall,  the  walls  of  which 
were  covered  with  paintings.     Here  we  recognised 
Campanari's  representations,  but  the  exhibition  of 
them  altogether,  in    broad  daylight,   and  without 
name  or  division,  was  not  half  so  pleasing,  natural, 
or  imposing,  as  what  we  had  seen  in  London.     We 
evidently,  indeed,  looked  upon  the  spirited  imita- 
tions of  something  ancient  and  sacred,  but  there  was 
nothing  to  indicate  that  they  had  come  from  the 
solemn   abodes  of  death.      We  saw  dancing,  and 
music,  and  feasting,  and  games,  and  races  ;  but  we 
knew  not  what  cities  they  were  from,  nor  what  were 
connected  together   in  the   same  tombs,  nor   how 
many  tombs  might  there  be  copied ;  and  there  was 
no  one  with  us  to  answer  these  questions.     We  felt 
that  this  hall  would  be  much  improved  if  the  names 
of  each  particular  grave  were  written  over  the  re- 
spective paintings,  and  the  names  of  the  cemeteries 
where  they  are  to  be  found ;  the  more  so,  as  if  a 
traveller  is  limited  in  time,  he  can  then  tell  how  to 
arrange  his  tour,  and  will  know  where  to  find  the 
paintings  which  have  interested  him  most.     I  grieve 
to  add,  that  he  will  also  know  how  to  trace  upon 
the  walls,  and  recognise  those  paintings  in  the  tombs, 
where,  from  neglect,  the  colours  have  almost  disap- 
peared.    In    Egypt  they  are    said   to    stand.     In 
Etruria  they  cannot  resist  the   damp,   and   I   am 
afraid  that  even  air  and  light  are  too  much  for  the 


68 


INTRODUCTION. 


permanence  of  the  colours.  They  first  change,  then 
fade,  and  then  vanish  entirely  away. 

In  this  room  we  noticed  with  fresh  wonder  the 
very  handsome  countenances  of  the  people,  their 
peculiar  size  of  eye,  and  length  of  foot  and  hand, 
the  great  richness  and  beauty  of  their  dresses,  the 
quantity  of  their  ornaments,  and  the  luxurious 
splendour  of  their  feasts.  The  dresses  are  all  of  red 
or  purple,  with  rich  shawl  borders,  or  it  may  be 
worked  in  gold  They  are  striped  and  spotted,  and 
consist  of  njantles,  togas,  trabeae,  and  tunics ;  and  the 
feet  are  sandalled  or  buskined.  Some  are  playing 
on  the  double  flute  or  on  the  lyre  ;  others  dancing 
in  an  extravagant  manner,  but  very  like  an  old 
Greek  representation  to  be  seen  above  a  door  at  the 
Villa  Albani,  and  still  common  amongst  the  peasants 
of  Campania. 

We  saw  chariot  races  and  horses  in  every  form 
and  position,  but  above  all  the  Doncaster  scene, 
which  had  so  much  astonished  us  in  London: 
the  race-stand,  the  competitors,  the  nobles,  the 
crowd,  the  judges,  and  the  prize.  There  are  some 
warriors  finely  painted,  with  helmet  and  shield, 
mantle  and  kilt,  like  the  Greeks — a  chariot  starting 
from  the  goal  which  I  almost  expected  to  see  move 
— a  boar-hunt,  with  warriors  and  peasants  appro- 
priately armed,  the  one  with  lance  and  spear,  the 
other  with  hatchets  and  instruments  of  husbandry  ; 
hounds  and  other  dogs  being  with  them.  There 
were  many  inscriptions  which  we  could  not  read, 
over  and  about  the  figures.     One  scene  of  human 


INTRODUCTION. 


69 


sacrifice,  apparently  a  prisoner  taken  in  war ;  and 
one  most  remarkable  and  touching  scene  of  death. 
I  exclaimed  in  amazement,  "  What  has  that  to  do 
here?  There  is  a  Capuchin  monk.  Is  it  possible 
that  such  a  figure  was  really  painted  in  a  heathen 
tomb  ?'*  It  was  indeed — I  afterwards  saw  it  w  ith 
my  own  eyes.  There  lay  an  elderly  man  extended 
upon  a  bed,  dying,  dressed  in  the  brown  cloak  and 
with  the  peaked  hood  of  the  Capuchins — a  youno- 
w^oman  by  his  side  to  watch  the  departing  spirit, 
and  close  the  once  bright  eye,  and  at  the  foot  of  the 
bed  a  man  standing,  as  if  to  witness  the  last  act,  to 
grieve  over  the  departed,  and  to  take  care  of  his 
remains — to  see,  in  short,  that  all  due  honours  were 
paid  to  the  rank  and  consequence  of  the  said  chief, 
when  such  a  charge  might  become  too  much  for  the 
feelings  of  his  afilicted  child.  Behind  the  door 
stood  the  dancers,  with  their  pipes,  ready  to  com- 
mence their  parts  as  soon  as  the  spirit  had  fled.  I 
afterwards  discovered  that  almost  all  the  paintings 
m  this  room  were  from  Tarquinia,  I  think,  with  the 
single  exception  of  a  very  noble  head  of  Jupiter  or 
Tina,  from  either  Saturnia  or  Vulci — the  name,  for 
a  wonder,  being  wTitten  above  it.  But  I  had  ex- 
pected to  find  in  the  Vatican,  specimens  from  all 
those  Necropoli  in  which  paintings  had  been  found, 
especially  Cere  and  Chiusi,  where  they  have  long 
been  so  renowned.  Even  the  paintings  from  Tar- 
quinia are  merely  samples  of  what  is  to  be  seen 
there.  One  scene  taken  from  one  tomb,  and  another 
from  another,  and  not  the  full  representation  of  any 


INTRODUCTION. 


71 


70 


INTRODUCTION. 


one  chamber.  The  specimens,  as  far  as  they  go, 
are  excellent,  and  in  size,  colouring,  and  spirit, 
perfect  fac-similes  of  the  originals ;  but  I  think  it 
a  great  pity  that  they  are  not  all  copied  for  the 
Vatican,  as  unless  the  papal  government  will  imi- 
tate the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  and  take  these 
most  extraordinary  and  interesting  relies  under 
its  own  protection,  they  will  soon  perish  from  the 
face  of  the  earth,  and  their  memorials  be  found  only 
in  the  records  of  the  Archaeological  Society.  Many, 
indeed,  of  high  historical  importance  will  leave  no 
memorial  at  all,  for  at  this  moment  their  remem- 
brance exists  only  in  a  manuscript  written  many 
years  ago  by  a  monk  at  Tarquinia,  and,  as  far  as  I 
know,  only  Carlo  Avolta  has  ever  read  and  partially 
verified  it,  as  will  be  mentioned  in  its  place.  The 
scene  I  have  described  of  the  dying  man,  is  to  be 
found  at  Tarquinia,  in  the  tomb  called  "  Camera 
del  Morto,"  and  is  still  fresh  and  perfect.  The 
boar-hunt  is  in  the  Grotta  della  Querciola,  but  much 
faded ;  tlie  banquet  in  "  Camera  del  Triclinio," 
and  the  chariot  race  in  "  Camera  della  Bigfa."  All 
the  cushions  are  embroidered  and  doubled  back,  as 
if  they  had  been  stuffed  with  eider  down.  The  dresses 
are  also  embroidered,  and  some  have  on  them  a  zig:- 
zag  pattern,  which  is  found  likewise  amongst  the  an- 
cient paintings  and  sculptures  of  Egypt,  Phoenicia, 
Greece,  and  Mexico.  In  one  of  the  pictures  there  is  a 
table  most  tastefully  set  out  with  vases,  tazze,and  ves- 
sels for  perfumes  and  libations;  and  in  another  of  them 
there  is  a  man  with  a  specchio  or  mirror  in  his  hand. 

10 


I 

r 

f 


Most  of  the  figures  are  represented  with  abundance 
of  ornaments ;  garlands  or  diadems  upon  their  heads  ; 
and  necklaces,  chains,  clasps,  armlets,  bracelets  and 
rings,  upon  their  persons.  I  have  mentioned  the 
prisoner,  as  I  took  him  to  be.  The  Etruscans  were 
once  supposed  to  have  been  cannibals,  upon  the  au- 
thority, or  rather  upon  the  misconception,  of  the  vase 
now  at  Berlin,  where  all  the  parts  of  aman's  body  are 
seen  lying  separate,  and  it  was  supposed  that  the 
man  had  been  cut  up  to  be  devoured ;  but  since  the 
forms  for  casting  the  bronze  statues  have  been  dis- 
covered, this  vase  is  found  to  represent  exactly  the 
way  in  which  they  were  manufactured  ;  and  the  dead 
flesh  is  turned  into  almost  living  metal ;  the  loath- 
some savage  into  a  refined  and  talented  artist. 
The  Etruscans  had  human  sacrifices,  as  is  proved 
from  other  vases,  and  from  their  sculpture:  but 
only  as  the  Greeks  had  before  them,  either  to  avert 
some  great  calamity,  or  to  honour  some  chieftain's 
death.  I  should  think  also  that  they  had  been  very 
rare,  from  the  few  ashes  which  have  been  found  in 
the  very  many  excavated  tumuli.  In  this  painted 
hall  we  remarked  that  all  the  men  and  horses  were 
red,  and  the  trees  blue  The  horses  also  were  of  a 
foreign  race,  and  in  shape  exactly  like  a  Dongola 
horse  brought  over  from  Africa  by  a  friend  of  ours. 
Upon  leaving  this  room  we  went  into  a  small  one 
near  it,  in  which  most  appropriately  and  wisely  the 
common  form  of  an  Etruscan  tomb  has  been  given. 
There  are  many  different  forms  in  the  various  ceme- 
teries, but  this  one  is  certainly  the  most  usual,  and  it 


72 


INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


73 


gives  a  very  accurate  representation  of  the  state  in 
which  the  unpainted  tombs  are  found.  It  consists 
of  two  vaulted  chambers,  small  and  low,  with- 
out any  light.  On  one  side  stands  the  sarcophagus, 
with  its  wreath,  or  arms,  or  whatever  may  be  its 
distinguishing  character  ;  and  around  upon  the  walls 
are  bronzes  and  terra  cotta,  i.  e.  vases  and  tazze, 
from  the  commonest  kind  to  those  of  the  greatest 
beauty.  They  aue  generally  broken,  sometimes  from 
the  nails  by  which  they  are  hung  upon  the  walls 
giving  way,  and  often  because  so  many  tombs  are  first 
excavated  from  the  top.  The  earth  and  stones  in 
consequence  fall  down,  and  demolish  everything  in 
their  descent.  Those  vases  only  are  secure  which 
stand  in  niches,  or  in  the  grooved  part  of  the  ledge. 
There  are  usually  a  number  upon  the  ground  near 
the  sarcophagus  or  bier. 

To  me  these  tombs  were  ever  a  most  interestinsr 
and  wonderful  sight,  and  I  think  even  the  meagre 
description  I  have  here  given  will  enable  the  reader 
to  enter  into  my  astonishment  at  meeting  in  so- 
ciety with  intelligent  Englishmen  who  had  had  the 
happiness  of  seeing  them,  and  who  seemed  afraid 
of  committing  themselves  whilst  they  drawled 
out,  that  perhaps  upon  the  whole  they  were  worth 
visiting.  At  the  very  same  party,  I  have  met  one 
man  who  seemed  afraid  of  a  libel  upon  his  taste 
if  he  praised  them,  and  another  who  had  hardly 
words  to  express  the  delight  and  enthusiasm  with 
which  they  inspired  him.  The  reason  was  indeed 
evident.     The  one  saw  merely  a  small  painted  room 


with  red  horses  and  blue  trees  !     How  barbarous  ! 
Why,  Tom   Smith  in  our  county  town  could  have 
done  better  !     The  other  read  in  them  the  history  of 
a  great  and  powerful  nation,  their  domestic  scenes, 
public  ceremonies,  and  religious  institutions.     He 
saw  the  point  ofcivilization  at  which  they  had  arrived  : 
the  old  traditions  that  still  lingered  amongst  them 
of  truths  revealed  to  the  Patriarchs,  and  the   near 
relation  they  bore  to  the  other  first  descendants   of 
our  father  Noah,  from  whom  all  the  knowledge  and 
the  arts  we  now  possess  are  derived.  The  bandaged 
image  of  Justice  is  not  a  better  emblem  of  impar- 
tiality, than  are  the  hundred  eyes  of  Argus  of  a  well- 
informed  mind.     One  man  goes  to  visit  the  relics  of 
antiquity  as  he  would  to  see  some  new   invention 
or  freshly  discovered   wild  animal,  of  the   nature  of 
which   no  previous  knowledge  could   be  acquired. 
Another  is  as  familiar   with  the  ancient  modes  of 
thinking   and    acting   as   with    the    people    whose 
house  was  burnt  down  yesterday,  and  the  whole 
arrangement   of  which    is     easily   traced   through 
its  ruins.     The  one  converses  with  antiquity,  and 
returns  delighted  and  instructed  from  his  visit ;  the 
other  stares  at  it,  and  learns  nothing.     I  could  name 
those  who  in  the  baths  of  Caracalla  and  of  Titus  have 
seen  nothing  but  stone  walls,  and  who  in  the  Mounts 
of  Horeb  and  Sinai,  I  doubt  not,  would  see  nothing 
but  green  and  rough  hills ;  but  apart  from  such  a 
class  as  this,  I  know  not  how  or  why  it  is,  that  so 
many  of  our  classically  educated  and  thinking  coun- 
trymen should  set  out  to  travel,  and  yet  shut  their 


£ 


74 


INTRODUCTION. 


eyes.  I  have  already  named  our  friends  of  the  pots 
and  pans.  Another  literary  star  told  us,  with  e;reat 
admiration  at  his  own  wit,  that  there  was  nothing 
in  Italy  worth  visiting  from  Pisa  to  Paestum.  The 
Italians  think  that  these  discontented  and  blind  gen- 
tlemen would  do  better  to  stay  at  home,  and  not  dis- 
grace themselves  and  their  country  by  such  imper- 
tinent and  foolish  speeches  in  the  presence  of  intelli- 
gent strangers. 

To  finish,  however,  the  little  that  remains  to 
be  said  of  the  Gregorian  Museum.  We  did  not 
see  any  coins.  I  believe  there  is  a  collection,  but 
that  it  requires  a  particular  order  for  admission, 
and  orders  are  slowly  obtained  at  the  Vatican,  un- 
less the  servants  are  well  fee'd,  which  is  a  circum- 
stance that  the  English  sometimes  do  not  understand, 
and  sometimes  treat  with  great  indignation.  It 
does  indeed  appear  very  mean,  and  yet  obtains  suffi- 
ciently in  our  own  country,  and  in  the  houses  of 
our  own  nobles,  to  be  by  no  means  strange  to  such 
of  us  as  require  permissions  or  favour  from  them  ;  add 
to  which,  we  probably  are  the  people  who  first  intro- 
duced the  custom  into  Italy.  Coins  are  so  rarely 
found  in  the  tombs,  that  their  proportion  to  vases  is 
about  one  to  a  hundred,  yet  they  are  exceedingly  pre- 
cious, because  the  devices  on  them  were  always  held 
sacred,  and  not  even  the  most  arbitrary  and  powerful 
rulers  of  any  ancient  nation  ever  dared  to  change  the 
emblems  upon  them,  which  in  all  cases  had  a  signifi- 
cant meaninor.  As  each  side  bears  a  different  device, 
and  both  are  connected,  the  one  enables  us  to  read 


f  I 


INTRODUCTION. 


75 


the  other.  In  Etruria  there  was  a  new  coinage  when 
a  new  city  was  taken  into  the  league,  or  a  new 
alliance  with  foreigners  was  made,  or  a  new  treaty 
of  peace  was  concluded ;  as  for  instance  between 
Veii  and  Rome  for  a  hundred  years,  a  term  not  un- 
common amongst  them.  We  procured  a  coin  found 
in  a  grave  at  Tarquinia,  a  semis  of  most  finished 
die,  which  marks  an  alliance  between  Tarquinia 
and  the  Rutuli.  The  general  coinage  was  bronze, 
the  assis  and  its  divisions,  as  I  have  already  men- 
tioned, and  there  was  no  silver  used  in  Etruria  till 
near  the  period  of  its  fall.  The  great  importance 
attached  to  coins  found  in  graves  beyond  such  as 
may  be  dug  up  elsewhere,  arises  from  our  know- 
ing not  only  that  the  impressions  upon  them  were 
sacred,  but  that  we  are  sure  they  have  never  been 
retouched  or  restored,  nor  in  any  way  altered 
since  the  day  they  were  placed  in  the  grave,  and 
spoke  the  language  of  the  nation,  under  the  stamp 
of  public  authority.  I  was  told  that  the  bronze 
room  in  the  Vatican  contained  some  specimens  of 
another  coinage,  purely  domestic,  and  in  clay.  It 
is  formed  in  this  manner.^ 


'^if^^^^!fiilPfiZif!>>P:iifmtmfiZi!Siif^^Z<f^>f!!!fK'. 


.iih^^Ffffi^^ffjIffff.''^. 


■lirAifMU^ 


The  pieces  are  stamped,  and  the  value  is  known 
by  the  number  of  the  balls.     The  one  is  a  piece  of 

*  A  number  were  found  not  many  years  since  at  Todi. 

E   2 


76 


i:ntrodiiction. 


three,  and  the  other  of  six.     I  know  that  such  exist, 
and   are  to  be  seen  in  Rome,  but  I  did  not  observe 
them  at  the  Gregorian  Museum,  and  never  had  the 
opportunity  of  returning  to  it  after  1  was  told  of  them. 
We  visited    several  small  private  collections  of 
Etruscan  curiosities,  but  to  detail  them  would  be 
mere  repetition.     I  cannot  forbear,  however,  men- 
tioning a  pair  of  vases  in  the  possession  of  Fossati, 
which  w^ere  creating  quite  a  sensation  before  we  left 
Rome.     They  were  found  in  Sabina,  and  I  think  in 
different  tombs,  but  they  were  both  illustrations  of 
a  very  ancient  Persian  poem,  the   one  an  allegory 
of  the  sun,  and  the  other  of  the  moon.^     They  were 
of  inferior  clay,  but  of  great  size  and  handsome  form, 
and  altogether  very  grand  looking ;  and  as  the  alle- 
gory was  depicted  exactly  according  to  the  poem,  it, 
i.  e.  the  poem,  was  evidently  known  to  the  painter 
of  these  vases.  Upon  this  the  learned  have  grounded 
a   commerce  between   Etruria   and   Persia,  either 
immediately  or  through  Phoenicia,  and  a  proof  of 
how  widely  spread  oriental  literature  must  have  been 
in  Italy      It  is  certainly  almost  as  wonderful  to  have 
found  the  illustrations  of  a  Persian  poem  in  an  an- 
cient tomb  in  Sabina,  as  to  have  found  a  Chinese 
smelling-bottle  lying  beside  a  Pharaoh  in  Egypt. 
No  one  for  some  time  could  obtain  possession  of  these 
vases,  because  the  Pope  was  in  treaty  for  them  ;  but 
as   Fossati   would    not  accept  of  the  price  offered, 
which  was  I  think  seventy  louis  each,  they  were 
unsold  when  we  left  Rome,  and  were  no  longer  to 
be  kept  for  the  Vatican. 

#  ♦  See  Appendix  A. 


INTRODUCTION. 


77 


To  any  one  who  wishes  to  purchase  antiques,  I 
would  recommend  the  shops  of  Vescovali  and  Capra- 
nesi ;  and  to  those  who  desire  a  knowledge  of  gems, 
the  acquaintance  of  Cades  in  the  Corso,  a  taker  of 
casts,  where  the  impressions  may  be  seen,  and  the 
histories  learned  of  all  the  most  valuable  intaglj  that 
have  been  found  in  Italy.  Cades  is  also  a  manufac- 
turer of  pastas,  or  false  gems,  in  perfection.  We 
were  somewhat  surprised  to  find  that  ancient  pastas 
bore  a  higher  price  among  the  antiquaries  than 
real  gems,  on  account  of  their  very  great  rarity. 
Alloyed  gold  has  been  found  in  Etruria,  and  some 
few  pastas.  Dedominicis  is  the  first  authority 
amongst  the  dealers  for  coins,  and  I  cannot  close  the 
list  without  mentioning  as  a  most  obliging,  useful, 
and  delightful  acquaintance,  the  Cavaliere  Barberi 
in  the  Via  Rasella,  the  first  artist  in  mosaics  in  Rome, 
a  man  of  universal  information,  a  poet  and  painter, 
a  traveller  and  a  scholar.  He  gave  us  an  account 
of  the  Etruscan  vases  which  he  had  himself  seen  in 
some  of  the  tumuli  in  Crim  Tartary.  He  is  not 
connected  with  G.  Barberi  in  the  Piazzi  di  Spagna, 
though  of  the  same  profession. 

And  now  in  conclusion,  gentle  reader,  let  me 
beseech  of  you  to  be  gentle  towards  me,  and  towards 
the  errors  and  omissions  which  may  be  found  in 
this  work.  I  doubt  not  there  are  many,  but  my  aim 
is  to  excite  rather  than  to  gratify  curiosity,  and  to 
persuade  you  to  go  and  see  for  yourself,  rather  than 
to  rest  satisfied  with  what  I  have  seen  and  detail  to 
you.     I  have  truly  and  simply  related  things  as  I 


78 


INTRODUCTION, 


saw  and  understood  them,  but  it  is  possible  that  I 
may  sometimes  have  mistaken,  as  it  is  certain  that 
I  have  often  forgotten.  My  imperfect  Italian,  too, 
does  not  make  me  sure  that  my  questions  were 
always  rightly  understood,  by  those  most  able  and 
most  willing  to  give  instruction.  I  am  now  far  from 
the  sources  of  information  and  the  scenes  I  have 
described,  but  I  shall  be  grateful  to  any  one  who 
will  add  to  these  recollections,  or  correct  them  ;  and 
should  my  humble  writing  be  the  means  of  bringing 
forth  some  more  worthy  work  upon  the  subject,  I 
shall  be  thankful,  for  the  sake  of  science  and  history 
in  general,  that  ever  I  was  led  to  make  the  attempt. 


II 


79 


^gUia^lMHidl^^sw  > 


X 


y 


CHAPTER  II. 


VEIL 


In  the  month  of  February,  a. d.  1839,  Capranesi, 
the  first  dealer  in  antiquities  in  Rome,  and  one  of 
the  first  existing  antiquaries  for  learning  and  re- 
search in  his  own  line  in  Europe,  offered  us  to  be 
present  at  the  opening  of  a  tomb  in  the  necropolis 
of  ancient  Veii.  We  gladly  accepted  the  offer,  and 
pursued  the  high  road  to  Florence,  as  far  as  Fossa, 
whence  we  took  a  guide  across  the  fields  for  about 
two  miles,  pursuing  a  very  ancient  road  which  once 
Jed  from  some  minor  city  to  the  superb  metropolis 
of  Veii,  and  which  was  still  in  use  in  the  days  of 
Tiberius ;  then  sending  our  horses  to  the  Isola 
Farnese,  distant  by  a  beautiful  walk  of  two  miles 
further,  we  went  the  rest  of  our  way  on  foot.  The 
spot  on  which  we  stopped  was  a  hill  separated  by  a 
deep  ravine  from  two  others.     The  one  in   front 


80 


VEIL 


was  once  covered  by  the  ancient  and  magnificent 

town  of  Veii,  and  the  one  upon  the  left  hand  had 

been  its  chief  necropolis.     The  site  of  the  graves  in 

this  hill,  covering  the  illustrious  dead  of  a  nation 

now    extinct,   has   but  lately  been  discovered,  and 

the  ground  is  hired  out  to  the  different  dealers  and 

private  antiquaries  in    Rome.      We   descended    to 

the  Formella,  a  brook  running  at  the  foot  of  the 

three   hills    I    have  mentioned,   and  the    principal 

branch  of  which  turns  off  through  the   Ponte  Sodo, 

and  washes  the  bottom  of  the  front  hill,  which  was 

once   entirely  crowned  and  enclosed   by  the  walls 

of  Etruscan  Veii.     We  crossed  the  lesser  branch 

upon  rude  stepping-stones,  not  far  from  where  the 

streams  separate,  and  then  ascended  a  most  natural 

and    undisturbed-looking    green    hill,   let   out   for 

pasture,  where  not  hired  for  excavation.     We  toiled 

for  some  hundred  yards   without  seeing  anything, 

and  at  length  came   upon  some  brushwood  which 

concealed   a   party   of  workmen.      I   was  startled 

at  the  moment,  for,  forgetting  the  object  of  our 

visit,  it  seemed   to  me  that  they  were    making  a 

grave.      They  were    only   opening   one,   however, 

which  had   been   made  three  thousand  years  ago. 

Well  does  mother  Earth   cover    up   her   children 

upon  that  green   hill,  for  not  the  slightest  sign  of 

the  hand  or  foot  of  man  is  to  be  seen  upon  her 

surface,  save  where  the  workmen  are  employed  to 

open  up  afresh  some  ancient  tomb.     Several  of  our 

party  had  been  with  the  men  the  whole  morning, 

and  seen  the  whole  operation  from  the  first  disin- 


VEII. 


81 


terment.     When  we  arrived,  the  face  of  the  tomb 
was    already  uncovered,   and   we   stood   upon   the 
brink  of  a  deep  pit,  probably  about  ten  feet  deep, 
looking  down  upon  a  rudely  arched  doorway  filled 
up  with  loose  stones.     It  was  cut  in  the  hard  tufo 
rock  that  composes  the  hill,  very  different  from  the 
rich  loose  deep  soil  which  we  saw  lying  all  around 
it,  and  which  had  been  brought  there  by  the  hand 
of  ancient  labour  to  cover  and  conceal  it  centuries 
ago.     On  each  side  of  this  arched  door  was  a  lesser 
arch  leading  into  a  small  open  chamber  perfectly 
empty.     The  workmen    made   a  few  steps  of  the 
earth  they  had  turned  out,   and  I  leaped  down  to 
the  bottom,  after  their  pickaxes  had  removed  the 
stones  from  the  main  door.     I  entered  the  tomb,  a 
single  chamber  arched  in  the  rock,  apparently  ten  or 
twelve  feet  square,  and  somewhat  low  ;  it  was  so 
dark  that  I  was  obliged  to  have  a  torch,  which  a 
labourer  held  within  the  door,  that  I  might  see   by 
myself  what  was  the  arrangement  of  the  tomb,  and 
what  it  contained.     The  bottom  was  a  sort  of  loose 
mud,  both  soil  and  wet  havin:^  fallen   in,  through  a 
hole  which  existed  at  top  of  the  door,  owing  to  the 
want  of  a  closing  stone.     In  tliis  mud  lay  above 
twenty  vases,  large  and  small,  of  various  forms,  and 
two  of  them  with  four  handles  ;  but  they  were  all  of 
coarse  clay  and  rude  drawing,  chiefiy  in  circles  or 
acute  triangles  of  red  and  black,  having  fish  or  some 
simple  device  upon  them,  but  no  mythological  sub- 
jects, and  they  appeared  to  me  to  be  in  that  style 
which  Cavaliere  Manzi  considers  prior  to  all  others, 

£  5 


82 


VEII. 


VIZ.  the  rude  infancy  of  the  art,  and  purely  Etruscan, 
without  any  intermixture  from  Greece  or  Egypt.  The 
black  vases  were  chiefly  stamped  and  indented,  none 
of  them  rich  like  the  Volterra  vases,  and  none  with  a 
fine  enamel ;  but  all  like  the  commonest  of  those 
kinds  which  are  found  in  the  other  Etruscan  cities, 
and  the  painting  was  such  as  adorned  the  household 
wine  and  oil  vessels  everywhere  throughout  Etruria.* 
The  tomb,  which  was  vaulted, contained nothingelse; 
no  sarcophagus,  though  the  place  was  marked  where 
one  had  once  stood  ;  no  gold,  no  bronze,  no  figures 
in  stone  or  clay,  and  no  marbles.  It  had  a  shelf 
all  round  it,  broad  enough  to  have  held  cinerary  urns, 
or  vases,  or  offerings  for  the  dead,  with  here  and 
there  niches  which  went  back  a  foot  or  so  into  the 
rock  beyond  the  shelf.  The  tomb  had  evidently  been 
rifled  before,  but  when,  who  shall  say  ?  The  latest 
accounts  that  we  have  of  the  rifling  of  tombs  is  in  the 
reign  of  the  Emperor  Justinian,  a.d.  627,  when  an 
idea  went  abroad  that  vast  treasures  were  concealed 
or  buried  along  with  the  ancient  great,  and  every  se- 
pulchre not  covered  in,  and  every  one  of  magnitude 
that  could  be  discovered,  was  opened.  The  meaner 
ones  were  allowed  to  remain  untouched,  as  appears 
from  the  fully  plenished  state  in  which  they  are  now 
found,  not  being  supposed  likely  to  repay  the  trouble 

*  Tombs  have  this  year,  1840,  been  discovered  not  far  from  this, 
m  which,  as  a  Roman  antiquary  informs  me,  every  style  of  vase  has 
been  found,  excepting  that  of  Rua,  a  very  great  discovery,  as  it  places 
beyond  doubt  the  antiquity  of  many  of  the  finest  kinds,  and  some  of 
the  most  interesting  legends. 


VEII. 


83 


and  expense  of  search.  It  is  also  natural  to  believe 
that  when  the  Romans  conquered  a  town,  as  they 
did  Veii,  when  they  destroyed  it,  enslaved  or  drove 
away  the  inhabitants,  and  established,  near  or  on 
the  site  of  it,  a  colony  of  their  own,  that  they  would 
also  spoil  the  grandest  and  most  splendid  graves  of 
their  enemies,  the  rich  and  mighty  ancestors  of  those 
just  conquered,  well  knowing  what  treasures  such 
depositories  often  contained. 

Veii  was  destroyed  by  Camillus  450  years  b.  c. 
Was  then  the  sarcophagus  of  our  tomb  taken  away 
at  that  period  with  the  offerings,  and  the  war-chariot 
and  the  scarabeus  amulet  to  save  from  evil  spirits, 
and  the  arms,  spears,  sword,  arrows,  breastplate  and 
shield  ?  Or  was  it  not  spoiled  till  the  search  in  Jus- 
tinian's days,  and  had  it  remained  undisturbed  since 
then  ?  How  little,  at  any  rate,  did  its  possessor, 
buried  near  his  fathers  with  "  all  the  pomp  and  cir- 
cumstance of  woe,"  ever  expect  to  be  scattered  to  the 
winds,  his  cumbrous  coffin  dragged  forth  and  broken 
to  pieces,  or  made,  as  it  often  was,  into  some  water- 
trough,  or  used  by  some  noble  Roman  for  himself; 
and  the  vessels  consecrated  by  his  family  to  his 
manes,  and  which  perhaps  were  those  of  his  daily 
use,  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  parcel  of  Britons,  a 
people  whose  origin  may  perhaps  have  affinity  with 
his  own,"*  but  whose  very  existence,  in  the  days  of 
his  highest  civilization  and  most  extensive  power, 
was  equally  barbaric  and  unknown  I  The  vases 
found  in  this  tomb  were  divided  amongst  our  party, 

•That  is,  Phoenician :  the  Lucumo  and  the  Druid. 


84 


VEIL 


and  were  kept  more  as  memorials  of  the  day  than 
as  articles  of  any  worth ;  but  we  could  not  help 
thinking  it  singular  how  the  Romans  for  ages  kept 
distinct  from  the  Etruscans  in  the  manner  of  their 
burials,  and  in  the  various  and  many  arts  therein 
employed,  though  from  the  Etruscans  they  took, 
and  acknowledged  that  they  took,  their  laws  and 
religion,  their  ceremonies  and  games,  their  arts  and 
arms.  We  wondered  that  when  an  Etruscan  city 
was  destroyed,  as  Veii  had  been,  and  a  Roman 
colony  was  established  upon  its  site,  and  within  its 
very  walls,  how  the  Necropolis  came  to  be  un- 
touched, which,  with  few  exceptions,  appears  to 
have  been  the  case.  The  colonists  formed  another 
for  tiiemselves,  and  rarely,  perhaps  never,  made  use 
of  an  Etruscan  sepulchre,  except  in  the  case  of  a 
Roman  citizen  who  was  of  an  Etruscan  family,  and 
this  is  a  case  which  may  have  occurred  at  any  period 
from  the  foundation  of  the  city  down  to  the  latest 
hour  of  her  sovereignty,  for  in  the  beginning  the 
third  part  at  least  of  the  Patricians  was  Etruscan, 
and  the  whole  of  Etruria  was  gradually,  and  state 
by  state,  admitted  to  the  citizenship. 

It  would  appear  that  from  the  time  this  country 
merged  in  Rome,  the  manners,  customs,  artists  and 
architecture,  became  all  Roman,  or  Romanized. 
Etruria  followed  the  fashions  of  Rome,  as  Scotland 
and  Ireland  do  those  of  England,  and  thus  she 
ceased  to  be  national,  or  numbered  with  the 
nations.  Mecaenas,  one  of  Augustus's  cabinet, 
cared  not  to  keep  up  the  customs  of  Arezzo;  and 


VEIL 


85 


Metellus,  who  before  him  had  been  at  the   head  of 
the  adaiinistration,  ceased   to   pride   himself  upon 
being  a  chief  of  Perugia.     Etruria  with  her  poli- 
tical fall   would  have  sunk  into   absolute  oblivion 
had  it  not  been  for  the  priesthood,  whose  influence 
never  entirely  ceased  until  supplanted   by  Christi- 
anity, and  who  kept   up  their  augury,   and   cere- 
monies, and  dress,  and    language,  as  late  as  the 
fourth  century  a.  d.,  after   which  we  never  read  of 
them  ;  and  the  tide  of  barbarism  which   swept  over 
Italy  aud  destroyed   Rome,  seems  almost   to  have 
obliterated  the  memory  of  such  a  people.     A  great 
and  mighty  nation  forages,  Etruria  became  as  though 
she  had  never  been.     The  rival  of  Greece  and  ally 
of  Egypt,    her   very   nauae    almost   was   forgotten, 
when  she  suddenly  sent  forth  a  voice  from  the  dead  ; 
and  such  was  the  wonder  and  spirit  of  research  that 
woke  in  Roine,  when  she,  like  Egypt,  began  to  tell 
her  history  from  her  graves,  that  a  friend  said  to  me, 
^'  I  came  to  Rome  to  study  her  antiquities,  but  I 
ean  find  in  it  nothing  Roman ;  all  that  I  ever  see 
is,  I  am  told,  either  Greek  or  Etruscan." 

To  return,  however,  to  our  tomb.  I  went  into  the 
side-chambers,  the  roofs  of  which  were  elliptic  arches, 
if  I  may  so  call  them,  and  there  I  found  shelves  all 
round,  about  three  feet  from  the  ground,  as  in  the 
principal  chamber,  but  nothing  else:  no  signs  even  of 
anything  ever  having  been  placed  there.  They  might 
have  been  Roman,  but  for  the  form.  The  Romans 
seem  never  to  have  buried  much  in  the  manner  of  the 


86 


VEIL 


Etruscans,  and  even  where  they  imitated  thenj,  tliere 
always  remained  a  marked  difference.  The  tombs 
of  the  Horatii  and  Curiatii  were  of  Etruscan  archi- 
tecture under  Tullus  Hostilius ;  and  that  of  Aruns 
at  Albano  is  attributed  to  the  days  and  architects  of 
Porsenna,  whilst  the  customs  of  Tarquinius  Superbus 
still  influenced  Kome.  I  believe  that  in  early  times 
the  Romans  always  burnt,  for  it  is  told  of  Numa  the 
Sabine,  that  he  gave  particular  orders  that  his  body 
should  not  be  burnt,  but  laid  in  a  stone  cofiin,  after 
the  manner  of  the  Etruscans,  all  of  whose  customs 
had  been  adopted  by  the  Sabines.  From  the 
oldest  to  the  most  recent  of  the  Roman  sepulchres, 
we  never  find  interred  in  them  any  of  the  painted 
vases  of  Sicily,  or  Greece,  or  Etruria  ;  nor  yet  dresses 
of  ceremony,  nor  war-chariots,  perfumes,  biers,  nor 
armour,  the  lance  excepted ;  these  things  were 
carried  with  the  body  to  the  pile  or  grave,  but  were 
then  taken  home  again  or  burnt,  and  not  interred. 
Merely  the  ashes  of  the  deceased,  or  his  bones,  were 
laid  in  his  grave,  and  perhaps  some  treasure  of 
coins,  large  amphorae,  always  unpainted,  clay  or 
glass  lachrymatories,  and  glass  or  enamelled  vases, 
the  latter  being  very  rare. 

In  the  tombs  of  old  Etruria,  on  the  contrary,  but 
few  coins  are  found,  and  clear  glass  vases  are 
so  rare,  that  one  in  our  possession  is  supposed 
to  be  unique  ;  it  was  found  at  Cervetri,  in  a  tomb 
excavated  by  the  Duke  of  Torlonia,  and  pre- 
sented to  us  by  the  amiable  and  obliging  Signor 


VEIL 


87 


Spada  of  Torlonia's  bank.  Enamelled  vases  and 
lachrymatories  are  found  in  many  tombs,  but  all  of 
them  bearing  the  forms,  the  colours  blue  and  yellow, 
and  the  character  of  Egypt ;  and  none  of  them  those 
of  Rome.  Probably  the  early  Romans  retained  their 
Latin  modes  of  sepulture,  burning  the  ashes,  and 
placing  them  afterwards  in  small  rude  vessels,  like 
those  huts  which  we  saw  in  the  Museo  Gregoriano, 
and  which  had  been  found  at  Alba  Longa.  Besides 
the  probability  that  this  was  the  manner  of  interment 
followed  by  the  Latin  Romans,  the  very  great  vene- 
ration in  which  all  the  ancient  people  held  their 
dead,  and  the  customs  of  their  forefathers  respect- 
ing them,  incline  me  to  believe  that,  under  the 
kings,  graves  were  never  violated,  and  under  the 
republic  very  rarely ;  more  particularly  as  orna- 
ments and  gold  were  forbidden  in  Rome,  and  the 
buried  arms  of  the  conquered  not  needed.  I  am 
inclined  to  place  the  violation  and  destruction  of 
all  the  graves,  with  the  exception  of  those  mag- 
nificent structures  belonging  to  princes,  such  as 
Porsenna  and  Aruns,  at  a  much  later  period,  and 
either  under  the  effeminate  barbarians  of  the  em- 
pire, or  the  rude  barbarians  of  the  north — men  who 
through  ignorance  and  pride,  or  through  vanity  and 
impertinence,  had  no  veneration  for  antiquity ;  and 
whose  love  of  destruction  or  thirst  for  gold  had  ob- 
literated those  sacred  feelings  which  everywhere 
attach  to  the  last  resting-place  of  man,  most  espe- 
cially to  those  few  adorned  feet  of  earth  accorded 
to  such  as  in  their  day  were  the  lords  of  hundreds 


88 


VEIL 


of  men  and  luindreds  of  acres.  Respect,  even  with 
the  savage,  usually  attends  the  effigy  of  poinp  and 
power  passed  away  for  ever. 

The  oldest  Roman  tomb  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted is  that  of  Scipio  Barbatus,  on  the  Via 
Appia,  close  to  Rome,  and  it  is  also  the  nearest 
approach  we  know  to  the  sepulchres  of  Etruria.* 
It  is  of  great  extent,  excavated  in  the  rock,  and 
containing  six  or  more  sarcophagi.  The  door,  I 
believe,  consisted  of  one  or  two  stone  leaves,  and 
was  arched,  having  a  lintel  and  door-posts  with 
a  cornice  outside,  but  the  roof  is  very  inartificial, 
and  there  is  no  sign  of  painting  within  the  toinbs  ; 
neither,  I  believe,  was  anything  but  lamps  and 
lachrymatories  discovered  besides  the  skeletons, 
several  of  which  were  laid  in  one  sarcophagus. 
There  is  no  ledge  projecting  from  the  rock  in  the 
inside  of  the  Scipios'  tomb  as  in  the  rudest  of  the 
Etruscan,  and  no  preparation  made  for  ornamental 
furniture.  Even  in  later  days,  when  some  vast  and 
celebrated  Roman  family  sepulchre  was  painted,  we 
find  none  of  the  richness,  the  variety,  or  the  his- 
torical paintings  of  Etruria;  no  portraits,  no  feasts 
nor  games,  nor  illustrations  of  domestic  manners 
and  customs.  In  all  these  thingfs  Etruria  claims  sis- 
terhood  with  Egypt,  and  a  singular  distinctness  from 
Rome.  The  Roman  tombs  and  cemeteries,  of  any 
celebrity,  are  all,  I  believe,  of  later  times,  when  riches 
and  luxury  were  permitted  to  any  extent  amongst 
the  people.     We  have  then  the  renowned  sepulchre 

*  It  is  of  Etruscan  architecture. 


VElt. 


89 


of  the  Nasoni,  which,  being  hewn  in  the  rock  like 
the  Etruscans,  was  arched  about  eight  feet  high,  and 
contained  all  round  arched  niches  for  funeral  urns, 
(not  sarcophagi,)  with  paintings  above  and  between 
the  niclies.  But  these  paintings  were  partly  ideal, 
partly  emblematic,  and  throw  no  light  upon  the  man- 
ners and  customs  of  Naso's  days ;  the  principal  figure 
was  a  herdsman  drawn  with  great  spirit,  carrying  a 
goat  upon  his  shoalders,  and  the  outlines  of  which 
may  still  be  seen.  Next  in  order  comes  the  sepulchre 
of  the  freedmen  of  Augustus,  behind  the  tombs  of 
the  Scipios,  in  which  are  some  arabesques  in  fresco ; 
and  lastly  the  famous  chain  of  family  cemeteries  for 
slaves  and  freedmen,  the  lately  discovered  columbarj 
in  the  Pamfili  gardens.  Here  again  is  fresco,  and 
some  very  minute  and  pretty  painting,  but  almost 
all  fanciful,  not  throwing  light  upon  either  history 
or  mythology,  but  only  showing  the  state  of  art  at 
that  particular  period  when  they  were  executed,  and 
which  was  so  late  as  the  reign  of  Trajan,  a.d.  98. 
Besides  arabesques,  there  are  a  man  leading  a 
giraffe,  peacocks,  pheasants,  and  other  fowls  and 
animals. 

The  baker's  tomb,  with  statues  in  it  of  himself  and 
his  wife,  at  the  Porta  Maggiore,  and  Count  Lozano's 
tomb  at  the  Porta  S.  Lorenzo,  with  fine  bassi  re- 
lievi  upon  three  noble  sarcophagi,  were  discovered 
whilst  we  were  at  Rome.^  But  though  the  statues 
in  the  one,  and  the  subjects  of  sculpture  in  the 
other,  bear  much  resemblance  to  Etruria,  the  man- 

*  See  Appendix  B. 


90 


VEIL 


VEIL 


91 


ner  of  executing  them  was  different,  and  not  to  be 
mistaken. 

This  dissertation  may  seem  out  of  place  to  my 
reader,  but  when  we  stood  around  our  newly-exca- 
vated tomb  we  were  naturally  led  into  all  these  and 
many  more  disquisitions,  in  order  to  convince  our- 
selves that  what  we  explored  was  genuine  Etruscan 
and  not  Roman — probably,  a  tomb  of  the  oldest 
formation,  and  not  of  the  latest — carefully  noting 
that  it  was  excavated,  and  not  built ;  that  it  con- 
sisted of  one  chamber  only,  and  was  not  painted  ; 
that  it  had  contained  a  large  sarcophagus,  and 
probably  bronzes,  lamps,  and  armour — all  of  which 
the  hand  of  the  spoiler  had  carried  away  ;  and  as 
we  lifted  out  the  only  remnant  of  its  ancient  orna- 
ments— the  numerous  vases— some  of  them  of  very 
large  size,  and  handsome  shapes,  and  all  painted, 
though  they  were  covered  with  mud,  it  was  with  in- 
describable interest  that  we  saw  the  gentlemen  bear- 
ing them  down  to  the  brook,  to  wash  them  with  their 
own  hands  ;  not  suffering  the  labourers  to  touch 
them.  I  beheld  from  the  top  of  the  hill,  men  of 
rank,  and  talent,  and  learning,  divided  into  groups 
of  two  or  three,  absorbed  in  this  occupation,  bending 
over  their  prizes,  and  scanning  with  eager  and 
anxious  eyes  each  figure  and  device  as  it  became 
distinctly  visible ;  and  though  we  were  disappointed 
in  the  quality  of  our  vases,  it  was  a  proof  of  their 
antiquity  that  we  found  so  many  without  a  single 
historical  or  mythological  figure  upon  any  one  of 
them. 


The  name  of  the  site  of  our  "  scavo,"  as  the  Ita- 
lians call  an  excavation,  was  "  Pozzo  Michele,"  or 
Michael's  well ;  why  so  called  I  cannot  think,  as  it 
lay  upon  a  steep  dry  slope.     It  has  since  struck  me 
that  the   name   might   be    Poggio    Michele  — the 
"  steep  of  Michele,"  and  that  Pozzo  might  be  the 
rustic  manner  of  pronouncing  it.     We  all  agreed 
that   it  had  been   previously  opened,  because  the 
vases  showed  that  it  had  been  tenanted,  and  the 
marks  of  the  sarcophagus,  and  the  absence  of  bones 
or  ashes,  that  it  had  been  spoiled ;  but  we  might 
have  known  from  another  sign  that  it  had  fallen  a 
prey  to  previous  antiquaries  or  treasure  hunters, 
from  its  having  no  doors.     Every  Etruscan  unvio- 
lated  tomb,  as  yet  discovered,  is  most  artificially 
closed  by  one  or  two  immense  stone  leaves.     Each 
leaf  is  a  single  stone  curiously  jointed  and  hinged, 
and  so  very  exactly  closed,  that  it  is  difficult  to  open 
without  breaking,  and  in  the  greater  number  of  in- 
stances the  doors  are  broken  to  pieces  and  thrown 
away,  or  perhaps  carried  off  to  build  up  the  first 
sheep  wall,  or  the  nearest  shepherd's   hut.     The 
doors     of   our    tomb    had    been     destroyed,    and 
the  space  filled  up,  according  to  the  usual  fashion, 
with  loose  stones.     One  stone  was  wanting  at  the 
top,  about  the  size  of  a  man's  hand,  either  because 
it  had  never  been  put  in,  or  because  it  had  been  so 
loosely  and  carelessly,  or  so  hurriedly  done,  that  it 
fell  inwards,  and  in  consequence  the  bottom  of  the 
tomb   presented   mud   instead   of  clean  dry   tufo. 
After  we  had  completely  rifled  this  tomb,  it  would 


92 


Viill. 


probably  the  next  day  be  filled  up  to  restore  the 
ground  for  sheep-grazing,  and  in  a  fortnight  Pozzo 
Michele  would  look  as  green  and  undisturbed  as  it 
did  the  day  before  we  opened  it.  In  fifty  years  time 
the  men  who  opened  it,  and  those  who  saw  it  opened, 
will  be  no  more  :  Capranesi's  excavations  will  be  for- 
gotten or  doubted,  and  some  new  projector  and 
antiquity  hunter  will  very  possibly  re-open  this 
grave  to  find  that  it  has  been  already  spoiled. 
Thus  it  happens  with  many  magnificent  Roman 
sepulchres  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
Rome.  I  believe  that  no  excavations  whatever 
were  undertaken  until  the  French  began  to  disinter 
the  ancient  Forum,  and  the  triumphal  arches  of 
Rome  itself,  which  were  half  filled  up,  and  ob- 
scured with  earth.  Yet  even  during  this  short 
period,  since  knowledge  has  spread,  and  research 
and  avarice  have  been  awakened,  half  the  opened 
tombs  are  forgotten,  and  now  are  re-excavating 
by  English  gentlemen  and  noblemen  who  spend 
their  money  to  be  disappointed.  The  first  excava- 
tions we  heard  of  were  undertaken  by  Georgio  in 
1810.  When  anything  very  remarkable  or  very 
beautiful  has  been  found,  information  of  late  years 
has  been  given  to  the  Archaeological  Society,  and 
some  of  the  members  have  copied  the  curious  ob- 
ject, and  preserved  an  account  of  it  in  their  Annals  ; 
but  no  plan  has  ever  yet  been  made  of  the  ground 
explored,  so  as  to  obviate  the  probability  of  re-ex- 
cavating a  formerly,  perhaps  very  recently^  opened 
and  rifled  tomb.     Indeed  the  present  system  is  to 


VEIL 


93 


forget  all  about  them  as  soon  as  i)Ossible.     Besides 
this,  they  were,  in  the  first  instance,  almost  all  ex- 
plored by  dealers  in  antiquities ;    men  who  cared 
much  for  profit,  but  nothing  for  science :  and  there- 
fore those  observations,  the  most  interesting  to  so- 
ciety in  general,  of  the   style  of  architecture,  the 
objects  found  accumulated  together,  and  their  era, 
were  never   made,  and  in  the  greater  number  of 
instances  can  now  never  be  ascertained.     In  Roman 
Etruria   the   ground  that  has   been  opened   is  as 
yet  well  known,  because,  with  scarcely  an  excep- 
tion, it  is  either  in  the  hands  of  a  very  few  dealers, 
such  as  Capranesi,  Campanari,  Fossati,  Basseggio, 
or  of  eminent  collectors  like  Cav.  Campana,  or  of 
the  Prince  of  Canino.     It  is  the  same  in  Tuscan 
Etruria  and  in  Neapolitan,  at  least  as  far  as  our  in- 
quiries went ;  but  when  this  generation  shall  have 
passed  away,  what  is  there  to  preserve  the  memory 
of  the    ground   which   they   hired,   searched    and 
filled  in  again  ;  and  who  is  to  say  what  was  found 
in  any  particular  tomb,  and  what  bronzes  or  sculp- 
ture in   marble  or  alabaster,  wdiat  vases  or  terra 
cotta  vessels,  what  figures  in  stone  or  clay,  what 
scarabei  engravings  or  gold  ornaments  are  cotem- 
porary,   and   were  found   together?       Any  of  the 
first-rate  dealers  will  tell  you  at  once  that  such  a 
vase,  or  marble,  or  bronze,  came  from  Veii  Etrus- 
can, or  Veii  Roman  ;    from  Cere,  Volci,  Viterbo, 
&c. ;  but  what   tomb   they  came   from,   and  what 
other  objects  were  found  with  them,  what  might 
be  the  date  of  the  tomb,  and  why  such  a  date  is 


94 


VEIL 


VEIL 


95 


assigned,  in  nineteen  instances  out  of  twenty  they 
are  unable  to  tell  you.     Fortunately  for  science  and 
for   history,   and    for    knowledge   in    general,  the 
attention   of   some    learned    and    powerful  minds 
has   at  last   been   awakened   to   the   subject:    the 
richest   and    finest  tombs  opened  since  a.d.   1827 
have  been  made  known  to  the  Archaeological  So- 
ciety, and  laid  open  to  their  inspection  before  they 
were  destroyed,  and  their  contents  removed  :    and 
some  of  the  dealers  and  some  of  the  private  collectors 
are  themselves  studious  men.     Among-st  them   we 
can  name  with  honour  Cavaliere  Cainpana,  Capra- 
nesi  and   Campanari,  and  many   are  following  in 
their  wake.     Still  a  more  general  attention  to  the 
subject  is   desirable,    for   as  yet   those    who    put 
science  on  a  par  with   gold,  and  do  not  get  the 
tomb  opened  solehj  for  its  treasures,  and  then  fill  it 
in  again,  are  the  exceptions  and  not  the  rule. 

After  leaving  Pozzo  Michele,  we  divided  our- 
selves into  two  parties  and  sat  down  on  the  summit 
of  the  hill,  our  vases  being  laid  near  us,  to  eat  and 
to  drink  where  the  varied  baked  meats  had  been 
often  feasted  on,  and  the  rich  wine  had  flowed, 
many  thousands  of  years  before  us ;  and  I  thought,  as 
I  looked  on  the  smiling  faces  around  me,  "  As  it 
was  in  the  days  of  Noah,  so  shall  it  be  in  the  days 
of  the  Son  of  man."  We  are  as  they  were,  and 
we  shall  be  as  they  are.  "  O  that  we  could  so 
number  our  days,  as  to  apply  our  hearts  unto 
wisdom !"  We  are  feasting  and  laughing  upon  the 
very  place  of  tombs — who  knows  how  many  gene- 


a 


rations  of  our  fellow-creatures— how  many  hundreds 
once  loved  and  honoured,  may  now  be  mouldering 
in  this  very  spot  beneath  our  feet ! 

Presently  we  rose,  and  followed  the  workmen  to 
learn  how  the  place  of  one  of  these  concealed  sepul- 
chres is  ascertained-an  operation  which  the  earli- 
est of  our  party  had  already  seen  in  the  disinterment 
of  Pozzo  Michele.  The  foreman  of  the  labourers  took 
his  pickaxe,  and  struck  the  ground  in  many  places, 
but  it  resounded  to  the  tufo.     He  went  on,  how- 
ever, in  the  same  line  along  the  hill,  perliaps  150  feet 
above  the  Pozzo,  and  at  last  the  axe  stuck  in  the 
earth,  and  he  ordered  a  man  to  dig.     Here,  about 
two  feet  deep,  the  man  came  upon  tufo.     The  fore- 
man bade  him  stop,  and  we  marched  on.      At  the 
distance  of  a  few  paces  the  axe  again  stuck,  and  the 
foreman  found  the  earth  deep.     He  then  searched 
about  until  he  came  upon  tufo,  and  distinctly  traced 
upon  the  grass  the  part  where  the  tufo  and  soil  met 
upon  the  upper  line  of  a  door.     He  and  we  were  all 
satisfied.     He  marked  the  place,  and  this  newly- 
discovered  spot  would  be  the  scene  of  Capranesi's 
next  excavation.     We  then  descended  the  hill    re- 
crossed  the  brook,  and  went  to  see  what  we  could  ot 
the  still  remaining  fragments  of  ancient  Veii.     On 
the  hill  where  the  modern  road  leads  from  Prima 
Porta  to  Isola  Farnese,  opposite  to  a  number  of 
sepulchral  caverns,  may  be  found  another  range  of 
burying  places,  which  gives  us  reason  to  believe 
that  there  was  here  a  sepulchral  road.     It  was  pro- 
bably Roman,  though  it  is  not  now  easy  to  make 
8 


96 


VEIL 


out  the  original  form  of  the  chambers,  as  the  tufo 
has  worn  away,  besides  having  been  long  used  for 
sheep.  There  is  one,  however,  of  considerable  size, 
circular,  and  having  niches  for  urns  all  round  it. 
There  are  also  two  remarkable  sepulchres  of  Roman 
times,  in  which  some  fine  stucco  work  still  remains; 
but  those  who  wish  to  make  out  all  that  can  be  seen 
in  any  reasonable  time,  should  take  with  them  Ger- 
hard's map  of  the  ruins  of  Veii      Avanzi  di  Yeji. 

Close  to  the  Ponte  Sodo  are  the  remains  of  an 
imperial  aqueduct,  which  is  so  low,  that  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Roman  Veii  must  have  drawn  their  water 
from  wells,  and  the  apertures  thus  found  in  the 
rock  and  in  steep  places  have  made  some  authors 
imagine  that  in  this  spot  was  the  Cuniculus  by 
which  Camillus  entered  the  citadel.  But,  in  the 
first  place,  Camillus  could  never  have  worked  in 
secresy  and  safety  so  close  to  the  walls  of  the  town, 
which  reached  almost  to  this  very  place ;  and  in  the 
next,  he  could  not  have  chosen  a  worse  or  more  in- 
convenient road  to  his  point,  the  citadel  being  on 
the  other  side,  and  fully  a  mile  distant.  Not  far 
from  the  aqueduct  are  various  remains  of  walls, 
chiefly  Etruscan,  in  considerable  masses,  and  made 
of  immense  quadrangular  stones,  united  by  cement. 
One  of  them  we  searched  for  long,  and  on  account 
of  the  brushwood,  and  steepness,  and  stoninessofthe 
ground  found  with  great  difficulty,  viz.  a  portion 
of  wall  named  by  Sir  William  Gell,  with  bricks 
between  the  layers  of  stones.  To  this,  antiquaries 
give  a  date  about  one  hundred  years  prior  to  the 


VEII. 


97 


foundation  of  Rome.  There  is  another  mass  of  wall 
built  in  the  same  manner,  with  bricks  between  the 
stones,  near  the  Ponte  Sutri.  It  is  on  the  banks  of 
the  stream  without  the  city,  and  close  to  the  present 
path,  and  has  apparently  been  the  foundation  of  a 
bridge.  We  scrambled  down  to  Ponte  Sodo,  a  na- 
tural bridge  across  the  stream,  which  was  arched  by 
the  Etruscans,  whose  most  indefensible  point  of 
entrance  to  their  town  was  over  it.  Here,  upon  the 
arch,  stood  one  of  their  largest  and  finest  gates 
called  by  Gell,  Porta  Nepete.  It  was  a  double  gate 
flanked  by  a  tower,  as  appeared  from  the  remains 
in  1820,  and  the  tower  was  probably  square.  The 
same  style  of  gate  may  still  be  seen  at  Paestum, 
Pompeii,  and  Volterra,  in  all  these  places  of  Etrus- 
can architecture.  The  gate  had  a  wall  on  each  side 
of  it.  In  A.  D.  1820,  there  were  considerable  remains 
in  this  spot,  but  nothing  has  been  preserved  at  Veii, 
and  every  peasant  has  been  at  liberty  to  carry  off 
the  stones,  destroy  the  remnants  of  walls  and  build- 
ings, and  dig  up  the  ancient  highways,  in  order  to 
fence  round  his  own  sheepfold,  or  patch  of  corn-land  ; 
to  build  his  conical  hut,  the  living  representative  as 
to  form  in  moveable  materials  of  many  an  ancient 
grave,  or  even  to  repair  the  highways  and  by- 
ways now  in  use  in  that  neighbourhood. 

We  proceeded  by  a  beautiful  walk  opposite  the 
ancient  walls  to  the  Ponte  del  Isola,  where  three 
streams  of  clear  and  excellent  water  meet.  The 
waters  of  the  Cremera  and  the  Formella,  the  two 
rivers  which  surround  Veii,  are  not  now  drinkable  by 

F 


98 


VEIL 


reason  of  iron  and  sulphur,  the  whole  of  the  ground 
being  volcanic.     This  bridge  is  entirely   ancient,   of 
one  arch,  and  built  partly  of  tufo,  and  partly  of 
travertine.      It   is   worthy  of  particular  attention, 
and  hence  the  road  from  the  Septem  Pagi  entered 
Veii,  joining  the  Via  Cassia  about  the  tenth  mile- 
stone, and  two  hundred  yards  from  the  present  road 
to  Isola  Farnese.     Not  far  from  Ponte  Sodo,  there 
are  traces  of  an  ancient  road  quarried  in  the  rock, 
and  a  little  further   on  is  a  semicircular  range  of 
seats  or  basins  for  holding  water,  which  is   probably 
what  Sir  William  Gell  calls  the  public  lavatoja  or 
washing  place.  As  we  entered  the  old  road  which  led 
by  the  walls  of  Veii  to  this  bridge  Ponte  del  Isola, 
we  saw  some  of  our  many  attendant  Contadini  search 
in  the  grass  for  fragments,  and  one  or  two  of  them 
came  forward  with  pieces  of  marble  in  their  hands. 
The  lady  to  whom  one  was  first  offered,  told  me  she 
saw  the  stone  upon  the  ground,  and  the  man  who 
offered  it  to  her  pick  it  up.     He  did  so  without  any 
idea  of  payment  beyond  thanks  ;    but  an   English 
gentleman  rushed  forward  and  said  to  her,   '*  Oh  do 
not  take  it !  it  is  an  imposition.     The  peasants  bring 
the  marble  here,  and  throw  it  down  and  pick  it   up 
again,  in  order  to  humbug  you   with  having  some- 
ihmg  that  belonged  to  Veii."     She  calmly  answered, 
*«  I  am  much  obliged  to  these  generous  peasants, 
who  will  bring  marbles,  and  make  such    presents  of 
them."     She  took  it,  and  the  man  was  well  satisfied 

with  her  smiles. 

"  The  site  of  Veii,"  says  Sir  William  Gell,  "  need 


VEII. 


99 


not  have  been  so  long  disputed  by  antiquaries,  had 
they  attended  to  the  quantities  of  marbles  and  other 
remains  to  be  found  on  this  hill."  He  then  asserts 
that  the  site  of  an  ancient  city  is  perhaps  never 
wholly  obliterated,  some  remains  lingering  behind, 
that  defy  equally  the  destruction  of  time,  and  the 
ravages  of  man  ;  the  peasant  who  carries  off  what 
can  be  applied  to  his  own  use,  and  the  plough 
that  scatters  and  overturns  all  that  would  impede 
its  progress,  and  all  that  meets  its  path.  He  men- 
tions that  pieces  of  broken  terra  cotta  and  pottery 
— the  manufacture  in  which  the  Etruscans  ex- 
celled all  other  nations, — will  remain  when  every- 
thing else  is  gone,  and  will  show  where  once  men 
dwelt.  When  the  stone  and  the  marble,  the  metal 
and  the  gem  have  disappeared,  the  clay  will  stay 
behind.  "  O  God,  what  is  man  that  thou  hast  re- 
spect unto  him,  or  the  son  of  man  that  thou  so  re- 
gardest  him  ?"  The  dust  alone  remains  of  himself, 
and  the  broken  clay  is  the  most  enduring,  perhaps 
the  only  indestructible  mark  of  his  proudest  dwelling ! 
We  had  no  time  to  visit  more  of  the  remains 
which  still  exist  of  this  once  powerful  town.  Still 
may  be  traced  the  Forum,  the  temple  of  Juno,  many 
of  the  gates,  and  the  arx,  called  Piazza  d'Armi,  situ- 
ated a  little  higher  than  the  rest  of  the  town.  In  that 
part  of  the  Piazza  d'Armi,  where  antiquaries  place 
the  temple  of  Juno,  was  found,  in  1830,  a  piece  of 
marble  of  Roman  times,  but  commemorative  of  the 
family  of  Tarquitia.  They  were  noted  soothsayers 
amongst  the  Etruscans,  from  whose  books  auguries 

F  2 


100 


VEIL 


were  taken  down  to  the  time  of  the  Emperor 
Julian  s  last  war  with  the  Persians.=*^  It  is  sepul- 
chral, and  of  the  period  of  the  Roman  colony,  when 
the  citadel  was  beyond  the  settlement— 

M.  SAENIO. 

MARCELLO. 

TARQVITIA. 

PRISCA. 

VXOR. 

Professor  Nibby  mentions  an  inscription  which  refers 
to  a  statue  of  Tarquitius,  destroyed  by  the  fall  of 
the  temple  of  Mars.     Out  of  the  Forum  were  ex- 
cavated  those   sixteen   marble    pillars    which    now 
adorn  the  Post  Office   in  Rome.     Eight   of  them 
were  cannellated  and  eight   plain  ;  but  the  Roman 
government  had  them  all  made  alike  for  the  sake 
of  uniformity,  and  it  is  to   be  regretted  that  no  in- 
scription   perpetuates   their  history,   or   attracts  to 
them  a  stranger's  notice.     We  saw   them  brought 
into  the  city  in  divisions,  as  they  were  found. 

No  where  can  be  discovered  the  Cuniculus  of  Ca- 
millus,  which  terminated  in  the  temple,  and  was  pro- 
bably a  small  work,  though  so  important  in  its  results. 
Close  to  the  Via  Vejentina  is  a  mass  of  stone,  which 
was  its  probable  situation.     Besides   these  remains, 
in  A.  D.  1820,  Sir  W.  Gell  found  distinct  traces  of  nine 
gates,  viz.    1,  Port  Romana ;  2,  Porto  del   Arce  ; 
3,  Porta  di  Fidena  ;  4,  Porta  di  Flaminia  ;  5,  Porta 
Capena  ;  6,  Porta  del  Fiume  ;  7,  Porta  del  Ruscello  ; 
8,  Porta  di  Sutri;  and  9,PortaNepete,orPonteSodo; 

*  Pliny  says  that  Tarquinius  Priscus  wrote  a  book  "  De  Hetnisca 
Disciplina.*' 


VEIL 


101 


with  the  roads  leading  to  them.  Now  the  greater 
number  of  these  roads  are  obliterated,  and  their 
fine  Etruscan  pavement  lies  in  powder  upon  the  cart 
and  carriage  ways  around.  The  idle  neglect  that 
has  attended  Veii  is  remarkable.  Whilst  the  Roman 
colony  yet  occupied  the  ancient  Forum  in  the  reign 
of  Adrian,  a.  d.  117,  Florus  could  write,  "Who 
now  knoweth  the  situation  of  Veii  ?  In  our  annak 
alone  is  it  to  be  found.''  And  yet  four  miles  of  wall, 
the  foundations  of  which  were  perfect,  presented 
themselves  within  a  few  yards  of  that  portion  which 
was  inhabited  by  his  own  people!  Propertius,  with 
more  correctness  and  not  less  poetry,  tells  us  that  iu 
his  day  the  shepherds  fed  their  flocks  within  the 
ancient  walls. 

'*  Nunc  intra  muros  pastoris  buccina  lenti  cantat.'' 

The  imperial  Romans  got  out  of  acquaintance  with 
Veii  the  ruin,  and  Veii  the  village,  because  the  Via 
Cassia,  constructed  in  a.  u.  c.  628,  which  superseded 
the  Via  Vejentina,  led  them  near  it  instead  of 
through  it,  and  they  gradually  arrived  at  a  poetical 
doubt  that  it  had  ever  existed. 

Modern  antiquaries,  misled  by  them,  and  by  a  spirit 
either  of  invention  or  contradiction,  threw  aside  the 
authority  of  Strabo,  who  placed  it  truly  twelve  miles 
from  Rome,  and  that  of  tradition,  which  still 
retained  its  site  where  it  had  ever  been,  and  placed 
it  at  Civita  Castellana,  on  the  authority  of  an  inscrip- 
tion found  at  that  place,  but  which  appears  to  have 
been  carried  thither.  I  should  mention,  perhaps, 
before  leaving  the  subject  of  the  ruins,  that  near 


102 


VEII, 


the  Porta  Portusa,  on  the  present  farm  of  Vac- 
carreccia,  there  is  a  large  tumulus,  which,  if  not  the 
memorial  of  a  battle,  or  erected  to  blockade  the 
city,  is,  probably,  according  to  Gell,  the  monu- 
ment of  some  king,  and  very  likely  either  of  Pro- 
pertius  the  founder  of  the  city,  or  of  Morrio* 
Servius  tells  us,  that  Propertius,  king  of  Etruria, 
in  common  with  the  men  of  Capena,  founded  Veii. 

We  talked  long  upon  all  that  is  known  of  the  his- 
tory of  this  celebrated  town.  It  was  not  mentioned 
by  Virgil  among  the  great  cities  in  the  days  of 
JEneas,  and  was  not  in  the  league,  consequently 
was  not  a  place  of  note  at  that  time,  and  must 
have  risen  into  power  between  the  Trojan  war 
and  the  foundation  of  Rome.  Like  some  of  the 
other  towns,  its  inhabitants  appear  to  have  been  a 
mixture  of  Pelasgi  and  aborigines,  or,  as  Miiller 
thinks,  of  aborigines  and  Etruscans.  It  once  had  a 
history,  but  the  Etruscan  annals  being  all  destroyed 
after  the  reign  of  Claudius,  what  now  remains  to  us 
is  the  few  notices  scattered  through  the  Greek  and 
Roman  authors,  and  not  easily  put  together.  It  is 
said  to  have  been  founded  by  a  king  named  Proper- 
tius, to  have  had  a  king  who  established  the  Salian 
dances  in  honour  of  Mars,  and  who  had  terraces  made 
upon  a  neighbouring  mountain  for  the  ceremony ; 
a  king  Morrio,  descended  from  Neptune  by  Alesius  ; 
a  king  Tibris,  from  whom  the  Tiber  received  its  name 
(Miiller) — a  king  Vejo,  a  king  Meralus,  and,  thirty 
years  before  the  time  of  Camillas,  a  king  Lars 
Tolumnius.     Others  say  that  it  was  governed   by 


VEII. 


103 


Lucumones  or  governors,  elected  yearly.     It  is  cer- 
tain that  Tolumnius  ruled  long  ;  and  it  seems  proba- 
ble that  throughout   Mid  Etruria,  the  most  distin- 
guished for  courage  or  ability  amongst  the  Lucu- 
mones were  often   re-elected,  and  many  sometimes 
have  been  made  dictators  for  life,  and  thus  called 
kings.     It   is  also  certain   that   their   rulers  were 
elected,  and  not  hereditary.     It  was  a  king  who 
carried  on  the   war  against  Camillus,  whom  some 
authors  call  also  Tolumnius.     The  people  marked 
the   foundations   of  their  city  by  drawing   a  ridge 
with  the  plough  round  it,  an  operation  which,  though 
not  impossible,  must  have  been  very  diflScult  along 
the  borders  of  the  rocky   cliffs.     Perhaps  we  ought 
to  state,  that  this  hill  consists   of  a  table-land,  four 
miles  in  circumference,  which  descends  abruptly  by 
a  steep  precipice  to  a  stream,  the  Formella  on  one 
side,  and  the  Cremera  on  the  other.     In  ancient 
times,  these  were  rivers,  but  now  in  summer  they  run 
dry,  and  the  Cremera  has  been  greatly  reduced  by 
the  draining  of  the  lake  of  Baccano. 

We  saw  in  the  distance  the  curious  mount  of  Mu- 
sino,  six  miles  from  Veii,  and  regretted  that  we  could 
not  visit  the  various  terraces  that  surround  it.  The 
first  broad  terrace  supports  a  cone,  which  is  sur- 
mounted by  a  second  terrace,  supporting  a  second 
cone,  and  this  again  is  crowned  by  the  ruins  of  some 
circular  edifice  of  large  dimensions.  Tradition  says 
that  here  stood  an  altar,  which  in  early  times  was 
always  placed  upon  a  cone ;  and  near  this  spot  is 
still  a  small  wood  of  oaks  regarded  with  superstitious 


.1 


104 


VEIL 


fear  by  the  natives,  but  whether  as  a  place  conse- 
crated, and  therefore  not  to  be  profaned,  or  as 
haunted,  we  could  not  unravel. 

Gell  says  that  the  altar  erected  here  was  that  of 
Venus,  "  the  AraMutiae,  called  also  Murtige  or  Mur- 
cial,  in  Etruscan ;"  but  Turan  was  the  usual  name 
of  Venus,  and  the  name  of  Musino  is  more  probably 
taken  from  Mamers,  which  was  the  name  of  Mars. 
From  Mamers  the  Romans  made  Mavors,  or  Marte. 
No  doubt  the  terraces  were  made  for  the  Salian 
priests  to  hold  their  ceremonies,  and  run  round  the 
altar ;  but  how  in  honour  of  Venus  we  did  not  com- 
prehend, seeing  that  the  Salian  games  were  instituted 
in  honour  of  Mars  only,  unless  there  may  have  been 
here  a  double  altar,  and  Venus  may  have  received 
honour  as  the  consort  of  Mars.  The  original  insti- 
tution was  of  twelve  priests,  who  wore  painted  parti- 
coloured garments  and  high  bonnets,  with  a  steel 
cuirass  upon  the  breast,  a  buckler  in  one  hand,  and 
a  rod  in  the  other ;  and  they  were  called  Salii  from 
saltando,  leaping,  because  they  leaped  or  danced  round 
the  altar,  striking  their  rods  upon  each  other's  buck- 
lers, and  singing  hymns  in  honour  of  their  god. 
Their  feasts  were  so  sumptuous,  that  the  Romans, 
amongst  whom  Numa  is  said  to  have  introduced 
these  ceremonies,  called  their  grandest  entertain- 
ments "  Dapes  Saliares.*"  Their  chief  was  called 
"  Praesul,"  or  "  Magist^r  Saliorum  ;" — he  led  the 
band,  and  the  rest  imitated  his  steps  and  motions. 
We  hear  also  of  Salian  maids  who  may  have  sacri- 
ficed to  Venus.     Sextus  Ponipeius  says,  that  the  Vir- 


VKII. 


105 


gines  Saliares  were  associated   sometimes  with  the 
Salii ;  that  they  wore  a  kind  of  military  garb  called 
"  paludamentum,"  with  high  round  bonnets  like  the 
Salii,  and  that  they  performed  sacrifices  with  the 
pontifices.     He  says,  however,  that  they  were  hired. 
Servius  tells  us  that  the  order  was  instituted  by  Mor- 
rio,  king  of  Veii,  and  that  there  were  colleges  of  the 
Salii  at  Preneste  and  Tusculum  before  they  were  intro- 
duced into  Rome.  Micali  says  that  they,  andthe  Arvali 
who  so  much  resembled  them,  were  instituted  for  po- 
litical purposes ;  they  were  all  noble,  and  composed  a 
college  in  which  the  three  seniors  governed  the  rest, 
under thenamesofPr3esul,Vates,andMagister.  They 
danced  to  the  sound  of  the  sacred  trumpet,  striking 
first  the  earth  and  then  their  bucklers,  and  repeating 
the  dances  and  songs  three  times.  They  were  intro- 
duced into  Rome  by  Numa,  as  Plutarch  tells  us,  to 
heal  a  pestilence.  The  Monte  Musino  had  very  likely 
long   suggested   the  idea,   which   he   attributed   to 
Egeria,   or   Political    Wisdom,    his    muse,    who  is 
said  to  have   given  him  the  counsel,  along  with  a 
sacred  target  of  bronze,  which  the  gods  sent  from 
Jupiter— alias  which  he  had  procured  from  Veii.  He 
was  commanded  to  make  eleven  others  exactly  like  it, 
so  that  it  might  never  be  stolen,  as  no  one  would  know 
which  of  the  twelve  was  the  real  pattern  from  heaven. 
Veturius  Mamurius,  who  made  the  eleven  copies, 
would  appear  from  his  name  to  have  been  an  Etrus- 
can.    The   targets   were    oval,   with    several   folds 
closing  over  one  another,=^— they  were  worn  upon 

*  On  a  grave  lately  discovered  of  a  Pontifex  Salii,  they  have  been 

F    5 


106 


VFAU 


the  elbow,  and  called  "  Ancylia."  In  the  month  of 
March  the  Salii  carried  these  bucklers  through  the 
city,  and  were  clothed  in  a  short  scarlet  cassock, 
fastened  by  a  broad  belt,  clasped  with  brass  buckles. 
On  their  heads  they  bore  a  copper  helmet ;  they  were 
famous  for  the  elegance  of  their  dancing,  and  sang 
the  Carmen  Saliare,  which  is  said  to  have  been  the 
same  with  the  Carmen  Arvale.  Some  of  us  had 
seen  a  "  Carmen  Arvale"  still  extant*  It  is  written 
in  verses  of  four  lines,  and  reads  very  musically, 
though  it  is  in  such  old  Latin  as  to  have  been  unin- 
telligible in  Cicero's  time,  and  we  have  no  trans- 
lation.  Numa's  college  of  the  Salii  were  called 
Salii  Collini,  because  they  had  a  temple  on  the  Qui- 
rinal  hill.  Tullus  Hostilius  founded  another  col- 
lege of  these  men,  in  pursuance  of  a  vow  he  made 
whilst  fighting  against  the  Sabines,  and  his  Salii 
were  called  ''Salii  Palatini,"  because  established 
upon  the  Palatine 

In  the  short  notices  of  the  Veientine  kings, 
we  find  them  fighting  with  Romulus  during  the 
days  of  their  highest  splendour  and  civilization,  and 
he  conquered  from  them  the  Septem  Pagi,  or  seven 
villages,  upon  as  many  heights  near  Rome.  Veii  had 
made  war  to  retake  Fidense,  which  being  unable  to 
do,  she  was  obliged  to  yield  the  Septem  Pagi,  and,  ac- 
cording to  some  writers,  all  the  land  between  Veii  and 
the  Tiber,  to  purchase  a  peace  of  one  hundred  years ; 

found  represented  in  the  shape  of  the  ordinary  long  Etruscan  shield, 
as  it  is  painted  on  the  vases. 
*  See  Appendix  C. 

8 


I 


III 


1  > 


VEII. 


107 


a  treaty  which  was  not  kept,  in  whatever  way  we  may 
count  the  years.  The  inhabitants  of  the  ceded  portion 
were  admitted  to  citizenship,  though  not  allowed  to 
vote.  Tarquinius  Priscus,  when  he  divided  the  peo- 
ple into  thirty  tribes,  gave  a  family  name  to  each,  ex- 
cept the  Veientian.  Servius  Tullius  was  engaged  in 
war  with  the  Veientians,  probably  to  keep  the  Sep- 
tem Pagi;  and  Tarquinius Superbus gained  overthem 
such  signal  victories  that  they  were  forced  to  acknow- 
ledge his  superiority,  and  to  be  forward  in  the  homage 
paid  him  by  many  other  cities  of  Etruria,  viz.  present- 
ing to  him  an  ivory  throne,  a  sceptre,  a  golden  crown, 
and  a  triumphal  robe.  The  assignment  of  these 
things  as  the  attributes  of  rank  and  power,  is  very 
ancient  amongst  mankind,  and  the  symbols  of  kingly 
dignity  remain  the  same  now  that  they  were  2,300 
years  ago,  amongst  that  people  upon  whose  dust  we 
were  then  reposing.  Will  any  one  walk  over  our  dust 
2,300  years  hence,  and  perhaps  curiously  lionising 
the  ruins  of  London,  talk  of  our  British  customs,  and 
find  that  their  ways  are  the  same  as  ours  were  ?  The 
Roman  senate  decreed  these  same  articles  to  Por- 
senna  when  he  granted  them  peace,  therefore  it  is 
probable  that  what  came  from  Etruria  was  returned 
to  it  again.  Porsenna  having  conquered  the  Septem 
Pagi,  restored  them  to  Rome,  they  were  again  re- 
conquered, and  seem  not  to  have  come  any  more 
under  Roman  dominion  so  long  as  Veii  existed. 

The  next  thing  we  hear  of  is  the  war  of  a.  r.  271, 
which  lasted  with  intermissions  for  nine  years,  dur- 
ino"  which  time  the  Romans  once  established  them- 


108 


VEIL 


selves  upon  the  Cremera,  near  the  very  gates  of  Veii, 
and  the  Veientians  possessed  themselves  of  the  Ja- 
niculum  up  to  the  very  walls  of  Rome.     It  is  said 
that  at  one  time  the  Romans  were  so   pressed  by 
other  enemies,  that  they  had  no  levies  to  spare  to 
defend  them  against  Veii,  wherefore  Kaeso  stepped 
forth,  head  of  the  family  of  the  Fabii,  and  said, 
"  Commit  it  to  my  charge  to  defend  the  frontiers 
against  Veii.     I  and  my  family  will  do  it  at  our  own 
cost."     This  was  joyfully  accepted  by  the  senate, 
and  the  family  or  tribe  of  the  Fabii  issued  forth, 
consisting  of  306  men,  and  established   themselves 
on  the  Cremera,  near  to  the  city,  and  fortified  them- 
selves so  that  they  could  not  be  dislodged,  and  were 
a  thorn  in  the  side  of  their  enemies,  and   a  check 
upon  all  their   movements.      At  length  came  the 
day  when  all  the  Fabii  were  accustomed  to  meet 
and  hold  a  great  sacrifice  to  their  patron  god  on 
the  Quirinal  hill,  and  they  thought,  "  Surely  we 
may  go  forth  in  peace ;  the  enemy  will  not  attack 
us  when  we  go  to  our  family  sacrifice."     But  the 
Veientians  laid  wait  for  them  beyond   their  camp, 
and   attacked   them,  and  slew  the  whole  number 
except  one,  a  boy,  who  escaped  to  Rome  to  tell  the 
tale.     The  Etruscr  .1  league  now  helped  Veii,  and 
the  Romans,  unable  duly  to  avenge  themselves,  con- 
cluded a  peace  for  forty  years.     We  could   not  go 
to  see  the  camp  of  the  Fabii,  which  the  most  learned 
antiquaries  are  now  agreed  was  at  La  Valca,  on  the 
left  bank  of  the   Cremera,  and   which   effectually 
prevented  the  reunion  of  Veii  and  Fidenae,  lying 


t 


f 


-1 


A 
\ 


VEIT. 


109 


between  these  two  cities.     Ruins  of  what  may  have 
been  the  fort  are  still  existing. 

We  were  forcibly  reminded  of  this  part  of  their 
history,  because  our  lovely  walk  conducted  us  to 
Isola  Farnese,  where  former  antiquaries  had  placed 
the  camp  of  the  Fabii,  and  where  many  superficial 
guide-books  place  it  still ;  not  considering  first,  that 
it  is  not  upon  the  Cremera,  and  secondly,  that  no  po- 
sition could  have  been  taken  up  by  so  small  a  force 
directly  in  view  of  their  powerful  adversary,  and 
almost  within  arrow-shot  from  the  walls.     The  Isola 
is  a  most  romantic  rising  ground,  with  cliffs  and 
streams  round  it,  and  presents  to  view  a  sweet  quiet 
looking  hamlet,  with  an  inn  (whither  we  had  sent 
our  horses  ;)  and  a  fortress  of  the  middle  ages,  now 
belonging  to  a  princely  family  of  Rome.     The  in- 
habitants are  all  shepherds  and  vine-dressers,  and  to 
us  were  very  civil.     About  three  weeks  afterwards 
forty  of  them  were  taken   up  as  leagued  banditti, 
and  brought  to  Rome.     The  master  of  the  inn  was 
one  of  their  leaders,  and  said  at  times  to  have  given 
his  guests  human  flesh  to  eat — detected  by  a  young 
surgeon,  who  found  a  finger  in  his  plate ;  and  the 
landlord  who  came  out  to  us  at  Fossa  was  captain 
of  the  band.     We  thanked  God  for  our  safety,  for 
it  was  late  in  the  evening,  and  had  they  attacked 
us,  we  should  have  made  but  a  poor  defence.     We 
might  easily  have  fallen  into  their  hands,  for  an 
accident   happened   to  our   carriage,  driving  from 
Isola  to  the  high  road.     We  became  separated  from 
our  party,  and  had  far  to  walk,  during  which  time 


110 


V£1I. 


we  were  met  in  a  narrow  lane  by  several  mounted 
Contadini,  covered  with  togas,  and  armed  with  long 
iron-shod  poles,  who  stared  at  us  with  surprise.  We 
did  not,  however,  know  our  real  danger,  and  only 
felt  uncomfortable.  They  rarely  touch  the  English, 
for  three  reasons  :  1st,  because  they  fight  before  they 
yield ;  2ndly,  they  never  carry  money  except  on  a 
journey ;  and  3rdly,  the  whole  body  make  such  a 
fuss,  should  one  of  their  countrymen  be  injured,  that 
it  always  threatens  destruction  to  the  bandits.  Isola 
has  formerly  been  a  burying  ground,  both  Etruscan 
and  Roman,  but  the  tombs  are  all  rifled.  The  rocks 
are  perforated  in  every  direction,  and  here  may  be 
seen  columbarii  and  sepulchral  chambers  without 
number,  and  of  every  form.  Towards  the  other  side 
of  Veii,  between  it  and  Torre  del  Quinto,  about  the 
Arco  di  Pina,  were  the  tombs  of  the  kings,  and 
several  tumuli  covering  the  slain  in  battle;  also 
some  very  fine  Roman  sepulchres,  built  by  rich  sub- 
jects under  the  empire,  on  an  Etruscan  model. 

In  317  A.  R.  we  again  read  of  a  notable  war  be- 
tween Veii  and  Rome.  Fidenae,  a  colony  and  con- 
stant ally  of  Veii,  had  been  conquered,  and  all  the 
chief  offices  in  it  of  course  were  given  to  the  Ro- 
mans. The  Fideneans,  finding  their  yoke  intole- 
rable, and  it  was  ever  heavy  to  be  vanquished,  rose 
and  massacred  their  masters ;  after  which  the  ring- 
leaders fled  to  Veii,  and  the  city  and  cause  of 
Fidenae  were  taken  under  its  protection.  When  the 
Romans  sent  ambassadors  to  Veii  in  order  to  ex- 
plain the  matter,  the  king,  a  proud  and  fierce  man 


* 


VEII. 


Ill 


named  Lars  Tolumnius,  caused  the  ambassadors  to 
be  slain,  and  the  war  was  carried  on  with  asperity, 
and  ended  in  the  reduction  of  Fidenae  to  the  Roman 
yoke,  and  a  peace  with  Veii  for  twenty  years.  Lars 
Tolumnius  was  slain  in  battle,  and  his  royal  gar- 
ments, which  must  have  been  very  magnificent,  to 
judge  from  the  quantity  of  pure  gold  found  now 
interwoven  with  the  garments  of  Etruscan  princes 
in  the  tombs,  were  carried  as  trophies  to  Rome. 

In  A.  R.  348  comes  the  most  exciting  period  of 
their  history,  and  its  close,  which  shook  the  power  of 
Etruria  to  its  centre,  and  ushered  in  the  fall  of  all 
her  cities,  before  that  empire  which  was  destined  to 
subdue  the  whole  known  world.  The  war  began, 
as  usual,  by  Veii  supporting  one  of  her  old  van- 
quished colonies,  which  had  violently  thrown  off  the 
Roman  yoke,  and  for  two  years  it  consisted  chiefly 
of  a  series  of  skirmishes,  without  much  advantage  on 
either  side. 

In  350  A.  R.,  however,  both  parties  became  more 
in  earnest,  and  Veii  was  besieged.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war  the  Veientians  either  had,  or  else  had 
elected  a  king,  and  sent  to  Voltumnia,  the  great 
seat  of  the  national  council,  to  beg  assistance  and 
alliances.  It  is  said  that  the  diet  were  angry  at 
the  despotic  power  and  unusual  privileges  which 
Veii  had  accorded  to  her  chief;  or  more  probably 
at  the  tone  she  assumed,  in  the  terms  which  she 
wished  to  make ;  and  having  no  reason  to  think 
the  struggle  unequal,  they  left  her  to  fight  her 
own  battles.      She  was  accordingly   assisted  only 


J 


112 


VEHI. 


by  Capena  and  Falisci,  now  Civita  Castellana,  and 
such  was  her  success,  that  in  356  her  troops  were 
beneath  the  walls  of  Rome,  and  that  city  was  in  an 
agony  of  terror.      The  women    crowded  the  tem- 
ples, and  made  the  air  ring  with  their  cries  ;    and 
the  men  elected  Camillus  dictator,  and  as  many  as 
were  able  followed  him  to  war.     He  beat  back  the 
enemy,  and,  advancing  close  to  Veii,  renewed  the 
siege.     His  army  was  encamped  about  the  Arco  del 
Pino,  and  he  is  said  to  have  drawn  double  lines 
round  the  city,  and  still  to  have  made  no  progress. 
At  this  time  the  lake  of  Albano  suddenly  rose  to  an 
immense  height  above  its  usual  level,  so  that  the 
water  flowed  over,  and  threatened  to  devastate  the 
plains  below,  upon  which  the  Romans  sent  to  the 
oracle  at  Delphi  to  know  what  to  do  in  their  great 
trouble  and  distress,  and  to  ask  what  should   be  the 
success  of  their  arms,  and  what  devices  they  could 
use  against  their  enemies.     One  of  Camillus's  sol- 
diers  had  been  intimate  with  an  old  warrior  of  Veii, 
whom  he  saw  upon  the  walls,  and   with   whom  he 
entered  into  conversation — either  complaining  that 
they  niade  no  way,  or  boasting  of  his  general  and 
his  resources.     "  Ah  !"  said  the  old  man,  "ye  think 
to  take  Veii,  but  we  have  a  sure  prophecy  that  Veii 
shall  never  fall  until  the  lake  of  Alba  overflows  into 
the  sea    no  more."     The  Roman   enticed   this  old 
man  beyond  the  walls,  and  then  seizing  him,  carried 
him  prisoner  into  Camillus's  camp,  where  he   was 
made  to  repeat  what  he  had  said  resj)ecting  the  des- 
tiny  of  his  xiity.     Some  say  thut  by  bribes  he  was 


VEIL 


113 


induced  to  tell  the  Romans  how  they  might  accom- 
plish the  prophecy ;  but  though  this  is   not  impro- 
bable, we  shall  in  charity  hope   it  was  not  true. 
The  Romans  themselves  say  that  their  ambassadors, 
returning  at  this  time  from   Delphi,  brought  the 
same  answer  as  the  old  prophecy,  and  moreover 
added,  "  Ye  must  make  the   waters  of  the  lake  to 
flow  into  your  fields  and  gardens,  and  so  disperse 
and  consume  them,  that  they   shall  flow  into  the 
country,  and  not  into  the  sea."     I  give  the  story  as 
it  was  told  by  a  very  learned  member  of  our  party, 
and  as  it  is  to  be  found  in   Roman  history ;  and  it 
was  especially  interesting  to  us,  who  were  then  sit- 
ting opposite  the  silent  green  hill  of  once   warlike 
Veii,  and  who  had  visited  and  examined  the  great 
work  on  the  lake  of  Albano,  viz.  the   Emissario 
by  which  it  was  drained.     There  is  a  tunnel  through 
the  hill  on  which  Castel  Gandolfo  stands,  two  miles 
in  length,  made  by  the  Romans,  but  the  architec- 
ture is  Etruscan,  and  not  unlike  the  Cloaca  Maxima 
in  Rome.      It  has  never  been  repaired  since  the 
days   of  Camillus,    and  perfectly  attained  its  end. 
It  is  more  than  one  hundred  feet  below  the  ancient 
level  of  the  lake  ;  and  since  it  was  finished,  the  lake 
of  Alba  has  never  reached  the  sea.  The  legend  says 
that  it  was  finished  in  three  years  and  a  half;  but  as 
only  two  workmen  could  work  in  it  abreast,  and  it 
would  now  take  ten  years,  whicli  several  historians 
say  was  the  length  of  the  siege  of  Veii,  I  am  inclined 
to  credit  the  latter  version.     It  is  very  likely  that 


I 


114 


VEIL 


the   counsel   was    given    by    the   Roman    augurs, 
through  the  medium  of  the  Sibylline  books. 

It  is  most  probable  that  the  lake  of  Alba  over- 
flowed  in  a.  r.  352,  when  the  Romans  sent  to  the 
oracle,  and   were  desired  to  drain  it,  which  they 
might  commence  by  Etruscan  workmen ;  and  in  356 
or  7  the  idea  might  strike  Camillus  of  entering  Veii 
by  a  mine,  which  he  may  have  planned  and  worked 
by  the  experienced  miners  from  the  Emissario,  and 
hence  may  naturally  have  arisen  the  legendary  con- 
nexion  between  the  draining  of  the  lake  and  the  fall 
of  this  famous  city.      Certain  it  is  that  Camillus, 
coupling  the  prophecy  with  the  fate  of  Veii,  at  length 
conceived  that  if  he  could  undermine  it  as  the  waters 
of  the  lake  were  undermined,  he  should  conquer. 
He   accordingly  got  some  of  the  miners  into  his 
army,  and  commenced   a  mine  or  cuniculus,  i.  e.  a 
covered  passage,  which  should  issue  at  the  temple 
of  Juno,  within  the  citadel.  The  situation  of  his  com- 
mencement was  probably  at  that  mass  of  stone  which 
now  lies  close  to  the  Via  Vejentina  at  La  Valca.  He 
worked  undiscovered,  and  after  having  lain  for  three 
years  and  a  half  before  the  town,  he  had  the  delight 
of  hearing  that  all  was  ready  for  his  grand  attack, 
and  he  led  his  troops  through  the  mine.     The  king 
was  at  the  very  time  sacrificing  in  the  temple,  and 
the  priest  said, "  Courage,  0  king,  for  the  god  is  pro- 
pitious, and  there  is  victory  to  him  who  shall  offer 
the   entrails   upon   the  altar."      Camillus,  hearing 
this,  burst  in,  felled  the  poor  king  to  the  ground,  and 


VEII. 


115 


seizing  the  entrails,  offered  them  up  himself.  His 
soldiers  opened  the  gates  to  the  Roman  army — in  a 
few  hours  the  garrison  was  destroyed,  and  the  town 
sacked.  In  a  few  days  Veii,  which  contained 
100,000  people,  was  levelled  with  the  dust,  to  rise 
no  more.  Camillus  is  said  to  have  looked  upon  the 
ruins  of  the  beautiful  town  from  the  citadel,  and  to 
have  wept.  It  was  in  size  equal  to  Athens,  and 
larger  and  finer  than  Rome,  the  walls  being  four 
miles  in  extent.  It  was  full  of  the  ornaments  of  a 
rich,  civilized,  and  luxurious  people,  and  was  famous 
for  its  chariot  games,  and  its  works  in  bronze  and 
terra  cotta, — particularly  domestic  ornaments,  the 
chief  of  which  now  remaining  are  water-spouts  and 
tiles,  moulded  as  masques,  or  as  the  heads  of  ani- 
mals, commonly  lions,  of  very  fine  workmanship, 
and  portraits  which  were  hung  as  votive  ofi'erings  in 
the  temples.  One  famous  chariot  from  Veii  of  terra 
cotta  surmounted  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus 
in  Rome.  The  story  is  thus  given  in  Plutarch's 
Life  of  Publicola,  who  was  one  of  the  first  con- 
suls of  Rome  about  500  years  b.  c,  and  who  dedi- 
cated the  temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus,  on  the 
top  of  which  it  was  placed.  This  temple,  wholly 
Etruscan  in  its  architecture,  was  commenced  by 
Tarquinius  Priscus,  and  finished  by  his  grandson 
Tarquin  the  Proud.  "  About  that  time,"  says 
Plutarch,  "  Tarquin  making  preparations  for  a 
second  war  against  the  Romans,  a  great  prodigy 
took  place.  This  prince,  while  yet  upon  the 
throne,   had  almost   finished   the   temple  of  Jupi- 


116 


VEIL 


ter  Capitolinus,  when,  either  by  direction  of  an 
oracle,  or  some  whim  of  his  own,  he  ordered  the 
artists  of  Veil  to  make  a  terra  cotta  chariot,  which 
was  to  be  placed  upon  its  top."  This  was  a  usual 
custom  with  the  ancients,  and  such  chariots  were 
called  Fastigia.  Soon  after  this,  Tarquin  lost  his 
crown.  The  Etruscans,  however,  moulded  the 
chariot,  and  set  it  in  the  furnace.  Upon  this  the 
clay,  which  usually  contracts,  swelled  itself  out  to 
such  a  size  and  hardness,  that  it  was  with  difficulty 
drawn  out,  and  ever  after  the  furnace  was  disman- 
tled. Now,  as  the  unusual  swelling  of  any  sub- 
stance was  considered  an  omen  for  good,  the  augurs 
were  of  opinion  that  this  chariot  betokened  power 
and  success  to  the  people  with  whom  it  should  re- 
main, and  therefore  determined  not  to  give  it  up  to 
Rome,  saying  that  it  belonged  to  Tarquin,  and  not 
to  those  who  had  driven  him  from  his  kingdom. 
It  happened  that  a  few  days  afterwards  there  was 
a  chariot  race  at  Veii,  which  went  off  in  the  usual 
manner,  excepting  that,  as  a  charioteer  named  Ratu- 
manus,  who  had  won  the  prize,  and  received  the 
crown,  was  gently  driving  out  of  the  ring,  the 
horses  took  fright  without  any  visible  cause,  and 
either  by  some  direction  of  the  gods,  or  some  turn 
of  fortune,  ran  away  with  their  driver  at  full  speed 
towards  Rome.  It  was  in  vain  that  he  pulled  the 
reins,  or  soothed  them  with  words;  he  was  obliged 
to  give  way  to  their  career,  and  was  whirled  along 
till  they  came  to  the  Capitol,  where  they  threw  him 
out  at  the  gate  now  called  "  Ratumena,"  and  where 


VEIL 


117 


he  was  killed.  The  Vejentes,  surprised  and  terrified 
at  this  incident,  ordered  the  artists  to  give  up  the 
chariot,  and  it  was  forthwith  placed  in  triumph  upon 
the  top  of  the  temple  for  which  it  had  been  made. 

Of  the  terra  cotta  Juno  in  Veii  it  was  prophesied 
that  the    city   which  contained   her  statue   should 
be  the  chief  in  Italy,  whereupon  Camillus  humbly 
implored    her    to   remove    to   Rome;    the    image 
moved  her  head  in  token  of  acquiescence,  and  Vei- 
entian  Juno  was  carried  with  great  pomp  to  the 
Aventine,  where  a  large  and  richly  endowed  temple 
was  raised  in  her  honour.     Camillus  was  afterwards 
accused  of  appropriating  to  himself  the  magnificent 
gates  of  brass  or  bronze,  which  he  ought  to  have 
considered  as  counnon  spoil.     I  have  seen  a  form 
for  fusing  bronzes,  which  was  found  in  Veii,  and  I 
believe  it  now  belongs  to  the  Archaeological  Society. 
Little  gold  seems  to  have  been  taken   among  the 
spoils,  if  we  may  credit  Plutarch.      He  says  that 
when    the  Romans  wished   to   acknowledge   their 
success   by    presenting  a  golden   bowl  to  Delphi, 
the  oracle  of  which  had  so  greatly  assisted  them, 
the  scarcity  of  the  metal  was  such,  that  they  knew 
not  how  to  accomplish  their  intention,  wherefore 
the    Roman   ladies,  meeting    together   to   consult, 
gave  the  ornaments  they  wore  until  they  had  made 
up  the  amount  of  the  ofifering,  which  was  in  weight 
eight  talents  of  gold.     The  senate,  as  a  recompense, 
ordered   that   henceforth    funeral    orations    should 
be  made  at  the  tombs  of  illustrious  women  as  well 
as  men,  which  had  never  been  a  custom  before. 


118 


VEIL 


Fifteen  wars  are  recorded  between  Borne  and 
Veii ;  but  these  here  mentioned  are  the  only  ones 
of  which  we  have  interesting  traditions.  When  the 
lake  of  Alba  began  to  fall,  the  Veientians  again  en- 
treated the  assistance  of  their  countrymen,  and  the 
Lucumones  of  the  north  were  well  inclined  to  give 
it,  but  it  was  then  too  late,  and  no  longer  in  their 
power.  Their  augurs  were  consulted  in  vain.  It 
is  remarkable  that  these  augurs  were  named  Tar- 
quitia,  and  were  no  doubt  procured  from  Tarquinia. 
It  was  an  office  like  the  Hebrew  priesthood,  con- 
fined to  one  family  throughout  its  generations ; 
though  I  believe  each  city  had  a  different  family. 
The  surrounding  nations  saw  that  if  Veii  fell, 
they  should  probably  all,  one  by  one,  fall  before  the 
power  of  Rome,  but  they  could  give  then  no  men 
to  avert  her  fate,  for  the  Gauls  were  pouring  in 
upon  them  in  their  own  homes.  The  Romans  im- 
mediately established  a  colony  in  the  conquered 
town,  but  it  never  more  was  a  place  of  importance, 
and  had  dwindled  almost  to  nothing,  when  Tiberius 
re-established  the  garrison,  and  by  statues  and  aque- 
ducts, and  other  works,  endeavoured  to  beautify  the 
place.  But  the  day  of  Veii  was  past — her  sun  was 
set — her  night  was  come — and  she  gradually  sank  in 
utter  darkness  :  first  came  desertion,  then  ruin,  then 
decay,  until  antiquaries  disputed  her  site,  and  tra- 
vellers doubted  if  a  city  had  ever  stood  where  the 
turf  and  the  rock  alone  now  meet  the  eye.  The 
Roman  colony  occupied  no  larger  space  than  the 
Etruscan   forum ;    for   Roman    graves    are    found 


VEII. 


119 


within   the   walls   beyond   its   limits,    and   neither 
people  ever  buried  where  the  living  dwelt. 

From  the  fall  of  Veii  we  date  the  progressive 
ascendancy  of  Rome,  her  standing  armies  and  fu- 
neral orations  for  her  illustrious  women  :  and  from 
the  fall  of  Veii  we  also  date  the  gradual  dismember- 
ment of  that  powerful  nation,  of  which  she  formed  a 
most  important  though  recent  part,  and  the  evi- 
dences of  whose  greatness  are  now  to  be  found  only 
in  her  graves.  Treasures  of  gold,  armour,  marbles, 
and  beautiful  things  have  been  found  in  the  tumuli 
and  other  tombs  of  Veii,  but  though  ordinary  vases 
were  the  only  produce  of  our  Scavo,  we  were  highly 
satisfied  with  the  knowledge  it  imparted,  and  from 
the  Isola  Farnese  we  returned  to  Rome. 


120 


CHAPTER  III. 


MONTE  NERONE. 


Our  next  expedition  was  to  Monte  Nerone  or  Mon- 
terone,  an  inn  and  hamlet  half  way  between  Rome 
and  Civita  Vecchia,  where  travellers  usually  change 
horses,  and  where  there  are  some  very  singular 
looking  conical  hills,  called  Colli  Tufarini ;  they 
are  exactly  like  artificial  tumuli,  and  are  not  above 
three  or  four  miles  from  Cervetri,  the  ancient  Agylla 
or  Caere,  and  might  therefore  have  been  the  burying- 
places  of  some  of  her  princes,  or  of  some  of  her  war- 
riors slain  in  battle  thereabouts.  No  trad ition,  however, 
lingers  over  them,  and  no  name  with  a  reference  to 
ancient  deeds  distinguishes  them  ;  hence  antiquaries 
and  natural  historians  have  equally  agreed  that  they 
have  been  untouched  by  the  hand  of  man.  I  have 
even  heard  them  quoted  in  lectures  upon  the  ancient 
forms  of  sepulture,  as  instances  to  prove  how  difficult 
it  often  is  to  distinguish  the  tombs  and  barrows  in  the 


MONTE  NERONE. 


121 


vicinity  of  Rome,  from  the  native  hills.  Fortunately 
they  belong  to  the  Duchess  of  Sermoneta,  a  woman 
of  great  spirit,  who  either  was  not  learned  enough  to 
know  the  decision  of  her  literary  countrymen  re- 
specting them,  or  who  was  too  wise  to  give  it  implicit 
credit,  and  allow  them  idly  to  remain  unexamined. 
She  had,  it  seems,  made  very  considerable  discove- 
ries along  the  coast  by  S.  Severa,  the  site  of  the 
ancient  Pyrgi,  the  port  of  Cere,  where  a  long  gal- 
lery exists  of  Etruscan  or  Pelasgian  architecture ; 
and  as  the  tumuli  in  question  are  in  outward  form 
the  same  as  many  that  formerly  existed  at  Cervetri, 
i.  e.  Cere,  she  resolved  to  run  the  risk  of  their  being 
natural  productions,  and  to  have  them  explored, 
under  the  idea  that  they  might  be  ancient  sepulchres. 
Accordingly,  in  1838,  workmen  began  to  search 
round  the  bottom  of  one  of  the  hills,  and  they  had 
not  worked  many  days  before  they  came  upon  a  wall 
of  Etruscan  stones,  which  completely  surrounded 
the  base,  to  the  height  of  about  three  feet. 

Etruscan  architecture  is  known  by  very  large  hewn 
stones  in  the  form  of  an  oblong  square,  being  joined 
together  with  or  without  cement,  and  every  alternate 
row  meeting  in  the  centre  of  those  below  it;  or  other- 
wise one  row  of  stones  lying  lengthways,  and  the  next 
edgeways,  which  produces  nearly  the  same  effect. 

Pelasgic,  if  I  understand  the 

IZ  term  aright,  consists  of  huge 
'^  hewn  blocks  cemented  or 
adhering  together,  but  not  always  quadrilateral  or 
rectangular,  whilst  the  stones  of  Cyclopean  architec- 

G 


thus, 


I 


122 


MONTE    NERONE. 


ture  are  of  all  sizes  unhewn,  and  are  fitted  into  each 
other  without  cement;  being  masses  of  all  shapes, 
built  together,  and  adhering  by  their  own  weight. 

It  seems  that  all  the  tumuli  of  the  Etruscans,  and 
most  of  those  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  were  surrounded 
by  a  low  wall  of  hewn  stone,  with  or  without  cement, 
like  the  one  at  Monte  Nerone  ;  and  accordingly,  after 
this  was  found,  the  Duchess  pursued  her  excavations 
with  increased  assurance.  In  one  side  of  the  tumulus 
there  was  always  a  door,  but  on   which  side  varied 
according  to  the  deities  of  the  people,  and  sometimes 
according  to  their  cities.  The  workmen  here  worked 
many  weeks  before  they  came  upon  anything,  except 
the   wall;    when    at  last  the  wished-for  door  was 
found  fronting  the  sea.    On  each  side  of  the  door  was 
a  small  empty  chamber,  like  what  we  had  seen  at  Veii, 
with  stone  seats  all  round,  where  the  relations  of  the 
dead  very  likely  retired  to  weep,  or  where  the  at- 
tendants may  have  prepared  the  funeral  feast,  or, 
as  some  late  discoveries  give  reason  to  conjecture, 
where  the  ashes  of  the  slaves  may  have  been  depo- 
sited, when  the  head  of  the  house  had  fallen.     Be- 
tween these  chambers,  down  a  couple  of  steps,  stood 
a  door,  with  a  cornice  in  the  Egyptian  style,  nar- 
rower at  the  top,  and  becoming  broader  at  the  sides, 

The  side  chambers  had  doors  of  the 
thus  /f^\\  same  form.  The  tomb  inside  was 
•  ^^  vaulted  with  a  large  stone  beam, 
hewn  out  of  the  tufo  in  the  centre,  as  we  now  see 
in  the  roofs  of  rooms  in  old  English  farm-houses. 
One  of  our  party  remarked,  "  This,  at  any  rate, 


MONTE    NERONE. 


123 


y 


proves  that  they  built  their  houses  before  their 
tombs,  and  not,  as  many  authors  have  theorised, 
their  tombs  before  their  houses ;  for  the  beam  is  use- 
less here,  and  only  put  in  that  place,  in  imitation  of 
the  dwellings  of  the  living."  It  was  without  other 
ornament,  save  a  couple  of  panthers  over  the  door, 
the  animal  sacred  to  Bacchus,  who  was  president  of 
their  funeral  feasts.  It  had  also  an  immense  sand- 
stone sarcophagus  on  one  side,  formed  of  plain  un- 
sculptured  stones.  It  was  found  open,  and  was,  I 
think,  without  the  lid  ;  which  led  us  to  conjecture 
whether  the  image  of  some  mighty  hero  might  not 
have  been  placed  there,  as  we  had  seen  in  so  many 
museums  in  Rome.  Each  image  being  a  portrait, 
and  probably  the  size  of  life,  it  would  immediately 
have  informed  us  whether  the  tenant  of  this  tomb  had 
been  male  or  female,  warrior  or  priest.  We  decided 
that  he  had  been  a  chief — but  why,  it  would  be  hard 
to  say  ;  for  there  was  no  vestige  of  him,  but  some 
slight  remnants  of  bone ;  which  we,  not  having  the 
taste  of  carrying  off  the  fragments  of  our  fellow- 
creatures,  left  undisturbed. 

Another  entrance,  and  of  the  same  form,  led  into 
an  inner  chamber,  as  was  constantly  the  case  with 
family  sepulchres.  It  was  an  oblong  square,  and  had 
a  broad  shelf  of  stone  round  it  about  three  feet  high, 
and  hewn  out  of  the  rock,  broad  enough  and  large 
enough  to  contain  three  sarcophagi,  and  having  over 
the  broadest  side  two  painted  figures,  called  by  our 
guides  sea-horses.  They  were  dolphins,  or  hippo- 
campi, with  genii  on  their  backs ;  a  common  emblem 

G  2 


124 


MONTE    NERONE. 


With  all  the  maritime  people  of  Italy,  to  express  the 
conveying  of  the  soul  through  the  troubled  waters  to 
another  world.  It  was  the  same  figure  with  the 
horses  of  the  Nile,  so  common  in  the  sepulchres  of 
Egypt.  I  think  there  were  nails  in  the  tomb,  as 
proofs  that  it  had  once  been  ornamented  with  vases 
or  bronzes ;  and  its  two  side  or  principal  chambers 
show  it  to  have  been  the  burying-place  of  some 
person  of  consequence  ;  but  ages  ago  its  dead  had 
been  scattered,  and  its  treasures  taken  away. 

Certainly  this  was  not  a  promising  beginning  for 
the  enterprising  Duchess;  she  found  a  grave,  but  it 
had  been  already  plundered.     The  only  recompense 
she  could  derive  from  it  was  the  sarcophagus,  to 
make  her  (as  the  ancient  sarcophagi  have  done  to 
hundreds  of  her  countrymen)  some  corn  chest  or 
water-trough.      She  had,  however,  the  generosity 
to  leave  it  untouched.     It  was  without  inscriptions, 
and  only  curious  on   account  of  its  stucco,  which 
had  assumed  almost  the  consistence  of  marble.     We 
were  told  that  other  tombs  had  been  discovered,  if 
we  chose  to  ascend  the  hill  and  see  them  :  accord- 
ino-ly  we  followed  a  winding  path  to  the  north-east, 
and    came    upon  two    or  more  graves  which  had 
never  been  finished,  and  which  may  puzzle  anti- 
quarians as  to  the  age  in  which  they  were  made. 
They  were  oblong  squares  like  troughs,  about  six  or 
seven  feet  long,  four  feet  broad,  and  four  feet  deep.    I 
give  the  measures  as  they  appeared  to  the  eye ;  and 
between  them  and  the  top  of  the  hill  there  was  again 
a  dilch,  but  no  massive  masonry  ;  and  hence  we  as- 


MONTE    NERONE. 


125 


cended  to  the  summit.  On  the  top  of  the  cone  was 
a  body  of  workmen,  mining,  as  it  were,  downwards 
in  loose  earth,  under  the  eye  of  an  engineer ;  for  in 
all  the  cones  the  principal  tomb  is  usually  situated 
directly  below  the  apex,  or  very  nearly  so  at  variou^ 
degrees  of  depth  ;  and  the  minor  tombs  are  at  a 
lower  elevation,  and  round  the  sides  of  the  cone,  not 
far  from  the  base.  All  those  who  were  conversant 
with  Etruscan  or  ancient  Greek  sepulchres,  felt  cer- 
tain that  some  more  noble  grave  was  concealed  to- 
wards the  centre,  and  most  sincerely  did  we  wish  that 
th  e  spirited  Duchess  might  be  right,  to  encourage  her 
in  the  march  of  discovery  ;  but  nothing  that  we  saw 
gave  indications  that  such  was  likely  to  be  the  case. 
It  is  the  theory  that  in  these  tumuli,  the  centre  and 
higher  grave  belonged  to  the  prince,  high  priest,  or 
hicumo  ;  and  that  the  surrounding  graves  were  those 
of  the  chief  officers  of  his  dynasty,  almost  always 
military,  as  the  arms  buried  with  them  show ;  and 
the  state  of  Italy,  before  it  was  subdued  entirely  by 
Rome,  rendered  necessary. 

The  tumuli  of  Cervetri  have  gone  far  to  confirm 
this  theory,  and  as  yet  have  certainly  offered  nothing 
to  disprove  it.  We  descended  the  hill  upon  the  west 
side,  and  here  were  taken  to  a  deep  well.  The  boy 
who  was  our  guide,  and  who  had  been  let  down  by 
ropes,  said  that  at  the  bottom  it  was  quite  dry,  and 
led  into  a  vaulted  gallery,  at  the  end  of  which  was 
another  well — the  gallery  being  broad  enough  to 
admit  of  two  abreast.  Two  workmen  had  descended 
after  him,  and  let  him  down  the  second  well,  which 


MONTE    NERONE. 


127 


126 


MONTE    NERONE. 


exactly  resembled  the  shaft  of  a  mine,  as  did  the 
first ;  here  was  another  gallery,  which,  after  going 
so  far,  and  always  leading  into  the  hill  northward, 
had  ceased  to  be  worked  any  further.  In  short,  the 
gallery  ended  in  nothing,  and  was  not  even  broader 
at  the  further  end  than  at  the  commencement ;  but 
was  like  a  work  stopped  in  its  progress,  which  I 
believe  it  to  have  been. 

The  wells  and  galleries  were  hewn  out  of  the  tufo, 
like  the  lower  tomb ;  though  all  that  we  saw  was 
rich  loose  soil,  artificially  brought  there  to  cover  the 
labour  and  build  up  the  hill.     Now  was  this  work 
Egyptian  ?  which,  substituting  the  cone  for  the  py- 
ramid, it  most  closely  resembled,  as  wells  and  gal- 
leries of  this  identical  disposition  have  lately  been 
found  in  the  tomb  of  Cheops  ;  or  was  it  Greek  ?  the 
early  sepulchres  of  which  nation  w  ere  a  mound  rest- 
ino-  upon  a  wall  of  broad  stone,  as  seen  at  Mycene, 
and  who  themselves  said  that  they  had  derived  their 
civilization  from  Egypt,  though   we  moderns  are 
pleased  to  say  otherwise :  or  was  it  purely  Etruscan, 
and  were  the  wells  and  galleries  intended  as  the  be- 
ginnings of  a  labyrinth,  like  many  of  the  tombs  of 
North   Etruria  ?     Oblivion,    answer   these   things, 
when  thy  great  book  shall  be  unclosed. 

Even  the  labyrinth  partakes  of  Egyptian  origin; 
and  so  does  the  principal  chamber,  being  placed  in 
the  principal  tumulus.  It  struck  us  upon  the  spot, 
that  whoever  the  tomb  had  formerly  belonged  to, 
he  had  begun  it,  like  the  Egyptians,  during  his  life, 
intending  to  make  a  magnificent  work,  which  should 


perpetuate  his  name  to  the  end  of  time.     Probably 
he  began  it,  Egyptian  like,  upon  coming  to  his  pro- 
perty or  rank,  and  it  was  never  finished.     He   died 
in  battle  in  some  distant  land,  the  state  covered  it 
in,  and  probably  placed  his  arms  upon  the  top,  like 
the  lion  upon  the  British  tumulus  in  the  field  of 
Waterloo— such  being  the  common  custom  of  the 
Etruscans — and  thus  the  mound  was  left.     Poor, 
vain  man  !    The  Romans  as  little  knew  his  name, 
or  at  least  as  little  preserved  it,  as  have  their  own 
annals  the  names  of  those  whose  lordly  tombs  still 
line   the  Appian  way.      As  this  tumulus  was  not 
erected  over  the  remains  of  men  slain  in  battle,  and 
was  not  the  burial-place  of  some  mighty   stranger, 
who  died  in  fighting  upon  the  coast,  (for  then  it 
would  have  been  hastily  and  completely  finished,)   I 
am  inclined  to  assign  to  it  a  very   high  antiquity, 
both  from  the  form  of  its  architecture,  and   from  its 
evidently   having    been   a   work   of  time,  from  its 
paintings,  its  sarcophagus,  and  its  wells  and  gal- 
leries.    It  is  but  fair  to  add,  that  future  discoveries 
may  throw  further  light  upon  it,  as  Carlo  Avolta 
Gonfaloniere  of  Corneto,  probably  the  most  expe- 
rienced man  living  in  the  working  of  these  tumuli, 
said  that  the  duchess  had  not  taken  the  proper  way 
to  discover  the  princely  grave,  did  such  exist,  and 
that  she  was  merely  wasting  her  money  in  the  down- 
ward mine.     He  once  talked  of  going  to   Rome  to 
speak  to  her  upon  the  subject,  but  I  think  he  never 
executed    his   intentions;   and   I    believe   that   no 
princely  grave  is  there.     We  sat  down  opposite  this 


128 


MONTE    NERONE. 


hill,  and  its  twin  sister  of  exactly  the  same  form, 
looking  at  them,  and  musing  upon  them.  Why  did 
a  chief  of  Agylla  choose  to  be  buried  so  far  from  the 
sepulchres  of  his  own  people?  or  was  the  mound 
erected  for  the  head  of  some  usurping  dynasty  who 
mingled  not  his  dust  with  the  native  princes?  or  was 
it  for  the  chief  of  some  friendly  allied  tribe,  who  re- 
quested that  he  and  his  officers  might  find  a  resting- 
place  there?  Was  it,  perchance,  the  grave  of  some 
heroic  governor  of  Pyrgi  lost  at  sea  ? — or  may  it 
have  belonged  to  the  Lydians,  v\'ho  tried  unsuccess- 
fully to  settle  themselves  upon  this  coast  ?  Vain 
indeed  were  our  conjectures  ;  as  the  only  finished 
grave  had  been  opened  and  robbed,  probably  long 
before  Latin  history  was  written.  Had  inscriptions 
in  any  character  been  found  in  this  tomb,  they 
would  greatly  have  assisted  in  determining  its  date 
and  nation  ;  but  few  knew  the  inestimable  value  of 
writing  ;  and  the  more  we  see,  whether  of  the  dead 
or  of  the  living,  the  more  clearly  do  we  perceive 
that  no  fame  is  lasting,  whether  for  dominion,  or 
pomp,  or  talent,  or  excellence,  unless  it  is  recorded. 
This  hill  was  the  nearer  of  the  two  to  the  inn  where 
our  horses  were  resting,  and  around  it  are  many 
wells  and  excavations  of  uncertain  meaning;  indeed 
all  the  ground  looked  to  me  like  tumuli  plundered 
and  overthrown :  and  the  Duchess's  hill  would  pre- 
sent much  the  same  appearance  in  a  few  years,  did 
she  neglect  to  cover  it  in  again.  Is  it  probable  that 
some  ancient  city,  the  very  name  of  which  finds  no 
place  in  human  history,  can  once  have  stood  close  to 
these  mounds  ? 


MONTE    NERONE. 


129 


We  had  no  time  to  make  further  research  ;  but  it 
may  be  worth  an  antiquary's  while  to  examine  bet- 
ter all  the  ground  in  this  vicinity  ;  for  late  years 
have  brought  such  things  to  light,  that  now  it  is 
difficult  to  say,  with  respect  to  the  nations  prior  to 
Rome,  what  may,  or  what  may  not  have  been.  No 
one  of  understanding  can  look  upon  these  graves, 
and  think  lightly  either  of  the  knowledge  or  of  the 
power  of  the  old  Italian  people. 

I  do  not  mean  to  intimate  that  this  tumulus  was 
of  Egyptian  workmanship,  nor  that  any  in  Italy 
were  so  ;  but  I  think  it  is  one  of  the  many  monu- 
ments which  will  go  far  to  prove  either  the  common 
origin  of  nations,  or  that  the  civilization  of  Greece 
and  Asia  Minor  did  really  come  from  Egypt ;  and 
in  this  view  I  was  glad  to  have  visited  it,  and  I 
think  its  history  worth  recording. 


G  6 


130 


CHAPTER  IV. 


TARQUINIA. 


This  we  regarded  as  the  most  interesting  portion 
of  our  Etruscan  pilgrimage,  for  besides  Tarquinia's 
claim  to  our  attention  as  the  capital  city  of  original 
Etruria,  it  was  identified  in  our  recollection  with  the 
most  exciting  period  of  early  Roman  history.     We 
are   informed   by  Livy,  that  Rome  received   from 
Tarquinia   a  race  of  powerful  kings,  and  was  m- 
debted  to  them  and  their  Etruscan  mother  country 
for  many    of    the    arts    of  refinement,  badges   of 
magnificence,   substantial  improvements,  and  rites 
of ''religion,   which    contributed   to   build   up   her 
rising   grandeur.      The    crown    and    sceptre,    the 
ivory  throne,  the  robe  of  honour,  and  the  colleges 
of  augurs  and  aruspices,  with  their  rites  of  divina- 
tion,   and   their   solemn    unfolding   of  the   future, 
all  came  from  Etruria;  while  the  stupendous  cloaca, 
a  work  which  has  never  been  surpassed,  and  which 
astonishes  us  even  among  the  ruined  masses  of  im- 
perial magnificence,  was  begun  and  completed  by 
the  polished  Etruscan  race  who  governed  the  Roman 
state. 


Ji  ] 


i 


AiV  Tl  Q  r  A 

ITAJ^IA  MEBIA 


PLAN  a,ui<im  ^ 

oi  the  lelative  position 

AS  t  IE  .V  T   E  T  K I  K I A 


^ 


'^trrbn 


LIJfE  OF  A  TOUR 
from 

ROME  INTO  ETRURIA 


*! 


ily 


TARQUINIA. 


131 


The  additional,  and  in  some  respects  new  lights, 
which  are  thrown  upon  the  early  ages  by  the 
historical  research  of  our  own  time,  serve  to 
tighten  the  connecting  link  between  Tarquinia 
and  Rome,  and  lead  us  to  believe  that  the  infant 
mistress  of  the  world  not  only  received  for  her 
king  an  able  and  powerful  Tarquinian  Lucumo, 
but  was,  through  Tarquinia,  united  for  a  season  as 
an  integral  part  of  the  great  Etruscan  common- 
wealth, and  probably  formed  one  of  the  barriers  of 
central  Etruria  towards  Latium.  But  it  is  injus- 
tice to  Etruria  to  feel  for  her  merely  an  interest 
reflected  from  an  upstart  state  of  robbers  and  out- 
laws. She  raises  her  crowned  head  hoary  with  anti- 
quity far  beyond  what  we  have  been  accustomed  to 
consecrate  as  time-honoured,  and  beckons  us  to  quit 
for  a  moment  the  crumbling  monuments,  whose 
grandeur,  comparatively  modern,  are  our  memorials 
of  the  wrecked  Republic  and  the  fallen  Empire,  in 
order  to  learn  of  her  in  those  secret  chambers  where 
she  still  displays  the  unperished  remains  of  arts  and 
luxury  and  wealth  belonging  to  ages  passed  away. 

With  reverence  we  approached  the  site  of  the 
capital  of  original  Etruria,  the  ancient  mistress  of 
Rome,  the  lawgiver  of  central  Italy,  where  Tages 
inspired  the  priests  with  the  wisdom  of  his  religious 
discipline,  and  where  Tarchon  instructed  the  rulers 
in  a  political  system  which  endured  for  many  centu- 
ries of  glory.  The  history  of  Etruria  is  involved 
in  obscurity,  and  we  can  but  grope  our  way  darkly, 


Is 


132 


TARQUINIA. 


indebted   for  our    pittance   of  knowledge  to   such 
lights  of  incidental  information   as  have  been  here 
and  there  preserved.     But   within  the  last  twenty 
years  much  attention  has  been  directed  to  the  eluci- 
dation of  these  by  men  of  great  historical  knowledge 
and  philological  learning,  who  have  devoted  them- 
selves to  the  pursuit.    The  materials  on  which  they 
have  to  work  have  been  hitherto  daily  increasing, 
and  will  continue  to  do  so  up  to  a  certain  point,  for 
fresh  tombs  are  constantly  discovered  with  occasional 
inscriptions   on  the  walls,   and   containing   carved 
sarcophagi,   and    painted   vases,  covered   with  my- 
thological,  heroic,   and  domestic  subjects.     But  as 
yet  our   information  is  dark  and  unconnected ;  the 
language  can  be  read,  but  its  meaning  can  only  be 
guessed  at,  and  it  probably  remains  for  the  antiqua- 
rians of  another  century  to  arrange  the  information 
which  the  spirit  of  discovery  now  abroad  is  extract- 
ing from  the  abodes  of  the  dead,   and  which  may 
show  the  vanity  of  many  theories  now  in  fashion. 
It    was  in    the   midst  of  this    puzzle  of  unsatisfied 
curiosity  among  the  ruins  of  Tarquinia  that  we  first 
learnt  rightly  to  appreciate   one  whom  we  had  hi- 
therto regarded  with   aversion  and  contempt,  that 
rare  mixture  of  learning,  stupidity,  dulness,  sense, 
and  folly,  the  Emperor  Claudius.     One  of  the  most 
severe  losses  which  historical  literature  has  sustained, 
is  that  of  the  twenty  books   which  he  wrote  on   a 
subject  so  mysterious  ;    and  a  single  sentence  of  one 
of  his  imperial  orations,  which   has  been  strangely 
recovered  in  modern  times,  opens  up  new  and  most 


I 


h* 

1 1 


TARQUINIA. 


133 


important  views  of  the  politics  of  Etruria,  and  of  its 
influence  on  early  Rome. 

Whatever  we  do  know  of  the  history  of  this   peo- 
ple leads  us  to  regard  the  territory^  of  Tarquinia  as 
of  principal  importance  in  their  state,  and  the  centre 
of  their  commonwealth.     Here  it  was  that  in  the 
early  days  of  the  world  a  husbandman  was  plough- 
ing in  the  field,  when  Tages,  the  youthful  demigod, 
the  grandson  of  Jove,  with  a  child's  face  and  a  sage's 
wisdom,  suddenly  emerged  from  the  deepest  furrow. 
The  cries  of  the  astonished  rustic  soon  collected  a 
wondering  crowd.     The  fame  of  the  event  flew  far 
and  wide.     The  Lucumones  of  the  people  of  Etruria 
speedily  assembled  to  the  spot,  and  carefully  noted 
down  the  verses   of  Tages'  sacred  song.     There  in 
a  metrical  form  he  delivered  to  them  the  rules  which 
should    guide   them   in   the   right   performance   of 
sacrifice,   in    the  auguries  from  lightning  and  the 
flight  of  birds,  in  the  examination  of  the  entrails 
of  victims,  and  in  all  the  parts  of  the  religious  dis- 
cipline which  was  afterwards  established  throughout 
Etruria.       No    sooner    had    the    mysterious    boy 
solemnly  announced  his  oracle  to  the  heads  of  the 
people,  than  he  laid  him  down  and  died ;  but  his 
words  were  destined  to  live  and  to  form  the  moral 
and  religious  code  of  the  Etruscan  nation.     He  to 
whom  the  sacred  discipline  of  Tages  was  more  par- 
ticularly imparted,  was  Tarchon,   a  descendant  of 
the  ancient  Lucumones  of  the  land,  and,  as  some 
say,  the  identical  husbandman  who  ploughed  up  the 

*  Voltumna,  the  seat  of  the  National  Council,  was  in  the  territory 
of  Tarquinia. 


134 


TARQUINIA. 


oracular  little  genius.  To  him  is  ascribed  the 
formation  of  the  Etruscan  commonwealth  into 
twelve  states ;  and  it  would  appear  that  this  number 
possessed  a  sacred  importance,  for  not  only  did 
original  or  central  Etruria  consist  of  twelve  govern- 
ing cities,  but  the  same  division  obtained  in  the 
northern  and  southern  branches  of  the  great  com- 
monwealth, which  during  the  zenith  of  her  glory 
she  established  on  the  banks  of  the  Po  and  in  Cam- 
pania, but  which,  prior  to  the  destruction  of  the 
nation,  sank,  the  one  under  the  smooth  tongue  of 
the  Greeks,  or  the  rough  sword  of  the  Samnites ; 
the  other  under  the  powerful  assaults  of  the  Gauls. 
Of  the  original  commonwealth,  in  its  twelve-fold 
division,  Tarquinia  was  the  head  ;  and  this  pre- 
eminence, as  well  as  its  existence  in  the  time  of 
Tages,  and  its  being  the  city  of  Tarchon,  vindicate 
its  antiquity  as  probably  surpassing  that  of  the  states 
to  which  it  gave  the  law,  and  over  which  it  main- 
tained its  authority  for  eleven  ages,  as  metropolis 
alike  of  the  political  constitution  and  religious  dis- 
cipline of  the  great  national  league. 

But  that  which  renders  the  name  of  Tarquinia 
most  familiar  to  us,  and  which  perhaps  has  served  to 
rescue  it  altogether  from  oblivion,  is  an  episode,  and 
one  possibly  of  but  small  lasting  importance  in  the 
history  of  the  city, — I  mean  its  connexion  with  Rome, 
and  the  union  of  both  for  a  time  under  one  govern- 
ment. The  story  is  so  well  known,  that  I  should  ask 
the  reader's  pardon  for  introducing  it  in  its  popular 
form.     When  Cypselus  established  his  tyranny  in 


TARQUINIA. 


135 


M 


Corinth,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  aristocratic  party, 
Demaratus  by  name,  fled  from  his  native  land,  and 
settled  in  the  flourishing  Etruscan  metropolis.     He 
seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  good  taste  as  well  as 
opulence,  for  he  brought  with  him  in  his  train  a 
band  of  artists,  cunning  in  the  plastic  and  pictorial 
arts,  by  whom  he  increased  the  industry  and  im- 
proved the  manufactures  of  the  city  of  his  adoption. 
For  it  is  evident  that  the  names  of  his  accompany- 
ing artists  E^xeip,    and   Evypa/i^uoc,  "  cunning  hand," 
and   "  clever  pencil,"  as  we  may   translate  them, 
designate  a  craft  or  trade  rather  than  two  indivi- 
duals.    I  have  noted  this  incident  in  the  industrial 
history    of   Etruria,    because   we    have   elsewhere 
adverted  to  it.     But  the  Etruscan  government  was 
a   strict  aristocracy,  excessively  jealous  of  all  en- 
croachment, and  Demaratus,  though  nobly  born  and 
wealthy,  was  still  regarded  as  an  interloper,  and  his 
son  Lucumo,  as  Livy  calls  him,  was  never  permitted 
to  gratify  his  ambition,  which  led  him  to  aspire  to 
the  highest  honours  of  the  state.     He  and  his  wife 
Tanaquil,  an  Etruscan  lady  of  high  family,  were 
unable  to  brook  this  obscurity ;  and  resolving  to  go 
to  a  place  where  a  novus  homo  might  at  least  be 
sure  of  a  fair  start  among  his  fellows,  they  migrated 
to  Rome.     It  is  interesting  to  trace  national  pecu- 
liarities, and  to  mark  the  influence  which  women 
must  have  exercised  in  Etruscan  society,  as  well  as 
the  grave  and  important  nature  of  their  education, 
from  the  curious  incident  which  befel  this  migrat- 
ing pair  at  the  Roman  gate.     An  eagle  brought 


\ 


136 


TARQUINIA. 


them  a  mysterious  message  from  the  sky.  Tanaquil, 
with  the  spirit  of  her  ancestor  Tarchon,  immediately 
applied  to  the  portent  those  rales  of  the  discipline 
of  Tages  with  which  she  had  been  imbued  from  her 
cradle,  and  assured  her  husband  of  future  royalty. 
The  prediction  probably  worked  its  own  fulfilment, 
and  in  a  few  years  the  ambitious  Lucumo  was  seated 
on  the  Roman  throne  as  king  Tarquinius. 

Splendour,  civilisation,  extended  sway,  and  ty- 
ranny, seem  to  have  marked  this  Tarquinian  govern- 
ment of  haughty  aristocracy.  The  Romans,  in 
time,  ground  under  the  oppression  of  a  foreign 
dynasty,  made  an  attempt  to  rid  themselves  of  it ; 
or  as  Livy  tells  us,  the  descendants  of  holy  king 
Numa  and  good  king  Ancus  rose  up  and  slew  the 
royal  Lucumo.  But  the  attempt  was  abortive,  for 
the  throne  was  forthwith  mounted  by  Servius 
Tullius,  another  Etruscan,  intimately  connected  by 
education  and  alliance  with  the  Tarquinian  family. 
He,  however,  adopted  a  policy  totally  dissimilar  to 
that  of  his  predecessor,  and  in  all  things  raised  the 
condition  of  the  people  at  the  expense  of  the  aris- 
tocracy ;  so  that,  long  after  kings  were  expelled, 
the  golden  days  of  liberty  under  good  king  Servius 
were  fondly  contrasted  by  the  Romans  with  the 
despotism  of  their  republican  government.  But  the 
Tarquinian  family  and  aristocratic  faction  could 
not  brook  this  popular  monarchy,  and  Servius  was 
assassinated  to  make  way  for  one  who  swore,  that  if 
Tarquinius  Priscus  had  smitten  the  people  with  rods, 
he  would  smite  them  with  scorpions.     Tarquin  the 


TARQUINIA. 


137 


.  •> 
b 


I  i 


Proud  restored  all  the  pomp  of  his  race,  and  reigned 
with  all  their  power,  until  the  Romans,  after  being 
galled  by  a  long  series  of  oppression,  at  length 
burst  forth  in  vengeance  upon  an  odious  scene  of 
tragedy,  and  the  tyrant  was  hurled  from  his  throne, 
and  with  his  partisans  banished  for  ever. 

Thus,  according  to  the  Roman  version  of  the  tale, 
an  Etruscan  grandee  from  Tarquinia  settled  in 
Rome,  where  he  became  king  under  the  name  of 
Lucius  Tarquinius:  and  some  of  their  historians 
add,  that  all  the  twelve  cities  of  Etruria  afterwards 
paid  him  homage,  and  acknowledged  the  superiority 
of  him  and  of  Rome,  by  investing  him  with  the 
royal  insignia,  which  they  thenceforward  retained 
for  the  Roman  chief  magistrates,  and  permitted  to 
those  illustrious  citizens  who  were  honoured  with  a 
triumph.  The  magnificence  of  these  sovereign 
symbols  strikes  us,  when  compared  with  the  sim- 
plicity of  costume  of  the  Grecian  authorities  about 
the  same  period,  and  of  the  Spartan  kings. 
Among  them  are  the  pomp  of  the  lictors  with 
their  fasces,  the  ivory  curule  chair,  the  toga  pre- 
texta,  the  diadem  called  Etruscan  corona,  which 
was  a  garland  of  oak  leaves  with  jewelled  acorns 
held  over  the  head  of  the  triumpher,  the  golden 
embroidered  tunic,  the  ivory  sceptre  surmounted 
by  an  eagle,  and  the  golden  bulla,  which  afterwards 
became  the  common  ornament  of  the  Roman  youth 
of  senatorial  and  equestrian  rank.  But  this  sup- 
posed homage  paid  by  all  Etruria  to  the  king  of 
Rome  seems  to  be  impossible,  for   Etruria  was  at 


138 


TARQUINIA. 


that  time  in  the  \ery  zenith  of  its  prosperity  and 
power.  Yet  still  the  vain  tradition  of  some  writers 
of  Roman  history  (Dionysius  for  instance)  may 
serve  as  a  key  to  the  truth.  Tarquinia  is  the  his- 
torical and  traditional  centre  of  Etruria,  and  was 
the  bond  of  union  to  the  state  under  a  supreme 
head,  a  union  which  was  founded  by  Tarchon,  a 
Tarquinian,  and  here  within  the  province  the 
respective  Lucumones  of  the  different  cities  assem- 
bled to  learn  the  sacred  doctrines  of  Tages.  It  is 
highly  probable  that  Tarquinia  retained  its  supre- 
macy for  many  ages,  and  that  its  Lucumo  was  fre- 
quently elected  chief  or  king  of  the  whole  Etruscan 
commonwealth;  and  it  is  no  less  probable  that  youth- 
ful Rome  also  belonged  to  this  confederation,  toge- 
ther with  a  portion  of  Latium,  weakened  at  that  time 
by  the  recent  destruction  of  Alba.  It  is  natural 
that  Tarquinians  of  distinction  may  have  lived  at 
Rome,  and  we  may,  if  we  please,  adhere  to  a  belief 
in  the  personality  of  two  Lucii  Tarquinii,  the  Tar- 
quinian governors  of  Rome.  Yet  the  suspicion  is 
apt  to  suggest  itself  that  the  proper  name  of  Lucius 
is  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  Roman  way  of 
rendering  the  official  title  of  Lucumo,  and  that 
Tarquinius  denotes  the  authority  of  the  Tarquinians  ; 
for  it  would  be  unique  as  a  Roman  family  name,  no 
Roman  gems  having  ever  taken  its  nomen,  but  only 
its  cognomen,  from  a  country  or  city.  According  to 
this  conjecture,  Priscus  and  Superbus  would  be 
mere  epithets  descriptive  of  the  commencement  and 
intensity  of  the  Tarquinian  domination,  of  which  the 


\f 


TARQUINIA. 


139 


two  great  Roman  kings,  thus  deprived  of  their  per- 
sonality, would  be  mere  types  and  figures.      But  be 
this  as  it  may,  the  period  when  these  monarchs 
ruled,  or  of  which  their  names  are  descriptive,  is  one 
of  great  historical  importance,  and  may  be  traced 
with  the  utmost  probability.    Until  then  the  Latine- 
Sabine  city  of  the  Roman  Quirites  was  unimportant, 
but  after  being  incorporated  with  the  great  Etruscan 
league  and  made  its  southern  bulwark,  it  became  a 
place  of  importance,  adorned  with  aqueducts  and 
temples,    and    fortified    by    ramparts   (Tarquinius 
agger.)     Under  the  Tarquinian  rule  the  conquests 
of  the  Romans  extended  over  the  Sabine  country 
to  Collatia,  Corniculum,  Crustumerium,  Nomentum, 
&c. ;  and  in  their  civil  polity  the  strictest  aristocracy 
was  established,  while  their  equestrian  games  and 
their  reverence  for  the  Delphic  oracle  were  a  natural 
consequence  of  their  connexion  with  a  city  whose 
earliest  annals  tell  of  Tyrrhene-Pelasgic  colonists, 
and  which  had  in  later  times  received  Demaratus 
and  his  train  from  Corinth. 

But  the  supremacy  of  Tarquinia  over  Etruria  was 
not  always  undisputed.  The  period  of  peace  and 
splendour  was  followed  by  one  of  intestine  commo- 
tions, when  the  army  of  Cceles  Vibenna  traversed 
,the  land.  The  invaluable  sentence  of  the  emperor 
Claudius,  so  long  buried  underground,  and  disco- 
vered in  modern  times,  throws  considerable  light 
upon  the  history  of  ancient  Etruria,  and  upon  that 
of  early  Rome.  It  is  recorded  in  the  11th  book  of 
the   annals    of  Tacitus,  that  in   the   year   of  the 


h 


I 


1 


140 


TARQUINIA. 


TARQUINIA. 


141 


Christian  era  48,  the  chief  men  of  Gallia  Comata 
presented  a  petition,  that  they  and  their  countrymen 
might  be  received  into  the  number  of  Roman 
citizens.  Claudius  himself  did  them  the  honour  to 
advocate  their  cause  before  the  senate,  and,  as  a 
motive  to  grant  their  request,  he  gave  the  instances 
of  strangers  who  had  founded  the  most  illustrious 
Roman  races,  and  who  had  ruled  with  honour  the 
Roman  commonwealth.  His  own  race,  the  Claudian, 
said  he,  came  from  Sabina,  the  Julian  from  Alba, 
the  Porcian  from  Tusculum.  It,  however,  appears, 
that  Tacitus,  in  the  account  which  he  gives  of  the 
speech  of  Claudius,  has  omitted  some  of  the 
most  illustrious  of  the  examples  which  were  cited  ; 
for  foreigners  were  mentioned  as  having  succeeded 
to  native  princes,  Numa  to  Romulus,  Tarquinius 
Priscus  to  Ancus  Martius,  and  Servius  Tullius  to 
Tarquinius.  In  the  year  1528,  some  workmen  were 
digging  near  the  church  of  St.  Sebastian  at  Lyons, 
and  found  a  brazen  tablet  upwards  of  five  feet  long 
and  four  feet  broad,  on  which  was  engraved  the 
imperial  oration,  which  had  thus  been  preserved  by 
the  gratitude  of  the  Lyonese  Gauls  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  remote  posterity.  I  transcribe  that  portion 
of  the  inscription  which  bears  upon  the  present 
matter — "  Quondam  reges  hanc  termer e  urhem^  nee 
tamen  domesticis  successoribus  earn  tradere  conticit, 
Supervenere  alieni  et  quidam  externi,  ut  Numa  Ro^ 
mulo  successerit  ex  Sablnis  veniens,  vicinus  quidem, 
sed  tunc  eocternus ;  et  Anco  Martio^  Priscus  Tar- 
quinius propter    temeratum    sanguinem,   quod  patre 


Demarato  Corinthio  natus  erat  ut  Tarquiniensi 
matre  generosa  sed  inopi,  ut  quce  tali  marito  necesse 
habuerit  succumbere,  (Note  the  pride  of  the  great 
Etruscan  houses,  who  looked  upon  a  polished  aris- 
tocratic Greek  as  a  mesalliance ! )  Cum  domi  repel- 
leretur  a.  gerendis  honoribus  postquam  Romam  mi- 
gravit  regnum  adeptus  est.  Huic  quoque  et  jilio 
nepotive  ejus  (nam  et  hoc  inter  auctores  discrepatj 
insertus  Servius  Tullius,  si  nostros  sequimur  captiva 
natus  Ocresia,  si  Tuscos,  Cceli  quondam  Vibennce 
sodalis  fidelissimus,  omnisque  ejus  casus  comes. 
Postquam  varia  fortuna  exactus,  cum  omnibus  reli- 
quiis  Cceliani  exercitus  JEtruria  excessit.  Montem 
Coelium  occupavit,  et  e  duce  suo  Ccelio  ita  appellaiur. 
Mutatoque  nomine  (nam  Tusce  Mastarna  ei  nomen 
erat)  appellatus  est  ut  dixi,  et  regnum  summa  cum 
reipubliccB  utilitate  obtinuit" 

"  This  city  was  formerly  governed  by  kings,  who 
were  not  always  succeeded  by  natives,  but  some- 
times by  strangers  and  even  foreigners.  Thus  Numa 
succeeded  Romulus,  and  was  a  stranger,  though  he 
came  from  the  neighbouring  Sabine  country.  Thus, 
after  the  traitorous  death  of  Ancus  Martius,  Tarqui- 
nius Priscus  was  called  to  the  crown,  the  son  of 
Demaratus,  a  Corinthian  by  a  Tarquinian  mother  of 
illustrious  birth,  but  compelled  by  poverty  to  make 
an  unequal  alliance!  Being  excluded  from  the  pos- 
sibility of  distinguished  preferment  at  home,  he 
migrated  to  Rome,  where  he  obtained  the  royal 
dignity.  Between  Tarquinius  Priscus  and  his  son 
or  grandson  (for  authors  are  not  agreed  as  to  this) 


) 


142 


TARQUINIA. 


Superbus,  Servius  Tnllius  reigned.  According  to 
the  Roman  tradition,  he  was  the  son  of  Ocresia,  a 
captive  ;  but  if  we  are  to  believe  the  Etruscan  ac- 
counts, he  was  the  most  faithful  friend  and  compa- 
nion in  every  vicissitude  of  Coeles  Vibenna.  After 
suffering  many  changes  of  fortune,  he  quitted 
Etruria  with  the  remnant  of  Vibennas  army, 
and  coming  to  Rome,  he  occupied  the  Coelian 
Hill,  which  he  thus  named  in  memory  of  his 
former  general ;  and  changing  his  name,  for  in 
Etruria  he  had  been  called  Mastarna,  he  was 
raised  to  the  Roman  throne,  and  as  Servius  Tullius 
governed  the  state  with  the  happiest  success/' 

The  important  light  which  is  thrown  by  these  few 
words  on  a  most  important  period  of  Etruscan 
history,  makes  us  deeply  regret  that  the  twenty 
books  of  the  imperial  author's  work  have  not  been 
preserved  ;  for  doubtless,  though  they  contained  the 
suspicious  statement  of  the  victors  regarding  the 
vanquished,  there  must  have  been  in  them  a  vast 
store  of  curious  matter. 

It  is  probable  that  the  powerful  Etruscan  chief 
CcBles  Vibenna,  whom  Claudius  mentions,  was  a 
native  of  Volsinia,  (Bolsena,)  and  led  his  army  from 
thence ;  because  the  peculiar  goddess  of  Volsinia 
was  Nortia,  the  Etruscan  Fortuna,  and  she  was  in 
after  times  the  patron  divinity  of  Vibenna  s  lieute- 
nant and  friend  Mastarna,  after  he  mounted  the 
Roman  throne  under  the  name  of  Servius  Tullius, 
and  named,  in  compliment  to  his  old  commander, 
one  of  the  hills  of  the   city,  Coelian.      With   the 


TARQUINIA. 


143 


remnant  of  this  army  Mastarna  obtained  possession 
of  Tarquiniau  Rome,  and  has  been  handed  down  to 
grateful  posterity  as  a  good  and  patriotic  king,  the 
foe  of  tyranny,  and  the  vindicator  of  the  liberties  of 
the  people.     He  must  have  been  an  Etruscan  of  a 
different  political  party  from  that  of  the  Tarquinian 
Lucumones,  to  whose  aristocracy  he  opposed  the  con- 
stitution of  the  census  and  of  the  Exercitus  Urbanus. 
His  government,  which  continued  to  be  regarded  by 
the   Roman  people  with  such  affectionate  regret, 
must   have   been    overthrown   by   the    Tarquinian 
party,  who,  as  is  denoted  by  the  commonly  received 
reign  of  Tarquinius  Superbus,  re-established  their 
authority  with  redoubled  severity.    The  final  banish- 
ment of  the  Tarquins  from  Rome  was  in  all  proba- 
bility no  isolated  event,  but  was  contemporary  with 
the  loss  toTarquinia  of  her  supremacy  over  Etruria, 
which  she  never  recovered,  but  continued  thence- 
forward a  city  of  reduced  importance.     And  we  may 
even  hazard  the  conjecture,  that  he  who  broke  the 
yoke  of  Tarquinia  was  no  other  than  Lars  Porsenna, 
king  of  Clusium,  who,  if  he  had  been  friendly  to 
the  Tarquinians,  would  certainly  have  re-established 
their  sway  in  Rome,  at  the  time  when  he  was  so 
completely  master  of  the  city  as  to  compel  a  sur- 
render   of   every    particle    of  iron,    ploughshares 
excepted.     Another    proof  of  the   contentions   by 
which  Etruria  was  at  that  time  distracted,  may  be 
adduced  from  the  foreign  policy  of  the  Clusian  and 
Tarquinian  parties.     The  Tarquinian  ruler  of  Rome 
sought  no  permanent  shelter  in  Etruria,  but  went 
8 


144 


TARQUINIA. 


TARQUINIA. 


145 


to  Cumse,  a  powerful  city  of  Magna  Grecia,  and 
made  its  tyrant  Aristoderans  his  heir.  Thus  the 
Tarquinians  appear  to  have  been  on  a  friendly  foot- 
ing with  the  Greeks,  while  the  king  of  Clnsium 
was  at  open  war  with  them  ;  for  while  his  son  Aruns 
Porsenna  attempted  to  found  a  sovereignty  in  La- 
tiuni,  and  for  that  purpose  made  war  on  Aricia,  he 
was  repelled  and  slain  by  a  Cuman  army  under  Aris- 
todemus.  Of  this  event,  the  curious  tomb  which 
stands  between  Albano  and  Aricia  is  considered  to 
be  an  Etruscan  monument. 

Thus  the  early  days  of  Rome,  with  which  we  are 
accustomed  to  associate  so  much  interest,  are  in- 
separably connected  with  the  brightest  period  of 
Etruscan  history;  and  the  great  capital  of  the 
world  herself,  as  we  shall  afterwards  see,  was  ori- 
ginally raised  from  her  humble  station  of  a  mud- 
walled  bivouac  of  outlaws  on  the  Palatine,  to  a 
populous,  adorned,  and  fortified  city,  by  the  arms 
and  the  arts  of  those  Etruscans  whose  memory 
she  afterwards  endeavoured  to  bury  in  unjust 
oblivion ;  even  as  a  proud  parvenu  seeks  to  make 
the  world  forget  the  existence  of  the  ancient  but 
decaved  family  to  whose  influence  he  owed  his 
first  step  on  the  ladder  of  prosperity,  but  in  whom 
he  sees  an  unpleasant  remembrancer  of  his  humbler 

fortunes. 

Our  curiosity  had  been  much  excited  about  Tar- 
quinia  by  the  account  of  its  painted  sepulchres  which 
was  given  us  by  our  amiable  and  accomplished 
friend  Chevalier  Kestner,  the  Hanoverian  minister 


at  Rome,  who  a  few  years  ago  himself  discovered 
several  of  the  most  beautiful  of  those  which  are  now 
shown,  in  company  with  one  whom  we  had  well 
known  and  greatly  esteemed,  and  whose  untimely 
fate  we  had  lamented — the  Baron  de  Stackelberg. 
We  also  heard  a  most  marvellous  tale  of  a  warrior 
who  had  been  found  in  his  tomb  clothed  in  a  full 
suit  of  armour,  and  crowned  with  gold,  during  an 
excavation  which  had  been  conducted  some  time 
ago  by  Signor  Carlo  Avolta  Gonfaloniere  of 
Corneto,  in  company  with  the  late  Lord  Kinnaird. 
As  Avolta  eagerly  gazed  through  a  crevice  above 
the  door  upon  this  mysterious  chief  of  the  ancient 
world,  he  saw  the  body  agitated  with  a  sort  of 
trembling,  heaving  motion,  (which  lasted  a  few 
minutes,)  and  then  quickly  disappear,  dissolved 
by  contact  with  the  air;  and  when  at  length  he 
penetrated  into  the  sepulchre,  all  that  he  found  on 
the  stone  couch  of  the  Lucumo  was  a  handful  of 
dust,  a  few  fragments  of  his  armour,  his  sword,  and 
his  golden  crown.  Chevalier  Kestner  kindly  fur- 
nished us  with  letters  to  this  enthusiastic  and 
veteran  lover  of  antiquity,  of  whose  polite  atten- 
tion and  desire  to  communicate  whatever  he  thought 
might  interest  us,  it  is  impossible  to  express  too 
high  a  sense. 

Our  journey  from  Rome  to  Civita  Vecchia  would 
have  been  tiresome  and  ugly,  but  for  the  delightful 
day  and  the  common  interest  which  we  all  took  in 
the  antiquities  that  are  to  be  found  upon  the  way. 
There  was  first  Monterone,  close  to  where  we  baited 

H 


146 


TARQUINIA. 


the  horses;  then  ancient  Agy  11a,  nowCervetri,  known 
from  the  large  white  palace  of  Prince  Ruspoli,  which 
is  seen  in  the  distance,  and  lies  within  its  walls;  and 
lastly,  the  fortress  of  San  Severa,  a  few  miles  farther 
on,  upon  the  sea-coast,  which  was  the  ancient  Pyrgi 
or  Pyrgos,  so  called  from  a  Greek  word,  signify, 
ing  "  towers,"  because  it  was  flanked  with  towers 
towards  the  sea.     This,  though  now  a  small  and 
bleak-looking  fort  in  a  most  dreary  country,  was 
once  the  far-famed  port  of  Agylla,  full  of  war  and 
merchantmen,   terrible   to  her  enemies,   respected 
by  her  friends,  and  carrying  on  an  extensive  com- 
merce with   Carthage  and  Phoenicia,  Greece   and 
Egypt.     Twice  from  hence  a  fleet  went  out,  bear- 
ing treasures  and  offerings  to  Delphi ;  here  upon 
the   sands  were   martial   games   carried   on — here 
stood  the  renowned  and  wealthy  temple  of  Elytia 
— and  here,  at  times,  was  the  residence  of  the  kings 
of  Agylla.  It  was  a  favourite  retreat  of  the  Roman 
grandees  during  the  first  age  of  the  empire ;    and 
was  founded,  according  to  Strabo,  long  before  the 
Trojan  war,  keeping  up  its  consequence  until  after 
the  fall  of  Veii.     Its  site  is  determined  by  Strabo, 
who  mentions  it  as    situated   between    Ostia    and 
Cossa,  upon  the  sea-coast,  one  hundred  and  eighty 
stadia,  or  twenty-two  miles,  from  Gravisca ;    and 
two  hundred  and  sixty  stadia,  or  thirty-two  miles, 
from   Ostia.     Now  as  both  the  port  of  Ostia  and 
that  of  Gravisca,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mignone, 
are  well  known,  it  is  easy  to  fix  the  position  of 
Pyrgi.      Gravisca  was  the  port  of  Tarquinia,  but 


TARQUINIA, 


147 


I  have  not  heard  of  any  excavations  there,  and  it 
is  probable  that  her  wealthy  dead  were  all  buried 
at  Tarquinia, 

Let  it  here  be  observed,  that  as  I  write  for  the 
ignorant  and  pleasure-loving  traveller,  and  not  for 
the  learned  and  antiquarian,  I  do  not  stop  to  prove 
my  positions,  nor  to  tell  how,  in  my  own  mind,  I 
became  convinced  of  the  various  facts  I  assert. 
But  if  any  one  wishes  to  know  my  sources  of 
authority  beside  the  classics,  they  have  principally 
been  Canino's  work  on  Caere,  Micali's  History 
of  Italy,  and  Mliller's  Etrlisker ;  but  better  and 
fuller  than  them  all,  the  Archaeological  Society 
of  Rome,  to  which  every  new  discovery  is  made 
known,  and  whose  information  is,  therefore,  always 
likely  to  be  the  freest  from  theory,  and  the  nearest 
to  truth.  At  St.  Severa,  all  that  now  remains  of 
ancient  days  is  some  fragments  of  old  wall  which 
belonged  to  the  great  temple  of  Elytia,  and  the 
buildings  lately  brought  to  light  by  the  Duchess  of 
Sermoneta.  The  port  was  situated  on  the  eastern 
side  of  the  present  tower,  and  the  forum  in  which 
the  games  were  held  lay  between  it  and  the  road. 
There  was  also  a  large  market-place  or  piazza,  as 
the  Italians  call  it,  for  exchange  and  merchandise. 
Dionysius  tells  us  that  Pyrgi  had  an  arsenal  and 
a  large  square,  where  the  merchants  met  for  traffic, 
near  the  port,  and  where  all  the  goods  brought  by 
sea  were  deposited.  It  is  extremely  likely  that 
they  had  a  wharf,  and  (from  ancient  descriptions) 
custom-houses   and  warehouses,  just  as  we   have. 

H  2 


148 


TARQUINIA. 


Its  great  prosperity  began  as  soon  as  the  Siculi,  a 
barbarous  but  native  people,  had  been  fairly  driven 
out  of  Italy  into  the  island  ^vhich  bears  their  name, 
three  generations  befpre  the  siege  of  Troy  ;  and  its 
fortunes  were  at  the  highest  during  the  reign  of 
Tullus  Hostilius,  when  much  treasure  and  many 
oVnaments    were    added    to    that    glory    of  their 
country,  the  great  temple  of  Elytia.      Pyrgi  was 
in  this  age  a  many  towered  and  redoubtable  port, 
the  earliest  and  best  known  to  the  Greeks  of  any 
in   Italy;    and   some  writers  have  even  supposed 
that  from  it  the  lords  of  Italy  were  called  Tyrrheni, 
or  the  tower-building  people.     After  the  conquest 
of  the   Siculi,   the   Agyllans    sent    from    Pyrgi    a 
treasure  or  thank-offering  to  Delphi.     This  is  men- 
tioned by  Strabo,  and  repeated   with  confirmations 
by  Pliny ;  and  it  was  of  such  high  antiquity,  that 
the  record  of  gifts  to  Delphi,  seen  by  Pausanias, 
did  not  go  back  so  far.     From  this  time  the  navy 
of  Pyrgi  was  renowned  among  the  Greeks  as  be- 
longing  to    pious,  brave,   and    honest   men,    who 
adored  the  gods  and  hated  piracy,   which  indeed 
they  seized  every  occasion  to  keep  under,  and  were 
the   guardians   of  the  sea   along   this  part  of  the 
Tyrrhene  coast.     The  men  of  Pyrgi  are  mentioned 
in  the  tenth  book  of  the  ^neid  as  having  assisted 
iEneas  when  he  was  at  war  with  Mezentius,  the 
cruel  Tarquinian  tyrant,  who  had  conquered  Agylla 
or  Csere.     Pyrgi,  therefore,  was  considerable  enough 
in  those  days  to  maintain  its  own  liberty   against  a 
very  able  and  conquering  chief,  and  she  doubtless 


TARQUINIA. 


149 


assisted  Caere  soon  after  to  throw  off  his  odious 
yoke.  In  the  expedition  which  the  Carthaginians 
and  Etruscans  made  together  to  dislodge  the 
Phocians  from  the  town  of  Alalia  in  Corsica,  a.r. 
214,  whence  they  would  have  ravaged  the  whole 
island,  the  ships  of  Pyrgi  had  by  fiir  the  principal 
share,  and  afterwards  they  stoned  all  the  prisoners 
whom  they  brought  home.  It  is  probable  that  the 
hatred  which  caused  this  violent  proceeding  also 
prompted  them  to  leave  the  bodies  uninterred,  the 
consequence  of  which  was  a  dreadful  pestilence. 
The  legend  says,  that  every  one  passing  the  Phocians 
who  were  stoned,  became  lame,  mutilated,  and  apo- 
plectic, so  that  in  great  trouble  the  Agyllans  sent  a 
second  time  a  solemn  embassy  to  Delphi,  accom- 
panied with  rich  gifts,  to  inquire  what  they  should 
do  to  avert  the  plague  ?  The  oracle  desired  them 
to  perform  a  grand  funeral  for  these  their  enemies, 
and  to  celebrate  for  them  every  year  games,  par- 
ticularly races  of  naked  men  on  horseback,  which 
was  accordingly  done ;  the  bodies  were  removed,  the 
air  was  purified  by  incense  and  perfumes,  the  art  of 
making  which  was  here  eminently  understood,  and 
the  plague  ceased.  These  games  lasted  at  least 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  were  in  existence 
in  the  time  of  Herodotus. 

Again,  we  hear  of  Pyrgi  in  the  days  when  Va- 
lerius and  Manlius  were  consuls  of  Rome,  a.r.  401, 
and  when  Dionysius,  tyrant  of  Syracuse,  took  it  into 
his  head  to  supply  his  treasury  by  robbing  the  rich 
and  magnificent  temple  of  Elytia.     I  do  not  remein- 


150 


TARQUINIA. 


ber  where  I  have  read  an  account  of  this  temple,  but 
it  was   the  largest,  the  finest,  and  the  richest   in 
all  Etruria,  and  particularly  sacred  amongst    her 
tribes.     Diodorus  says,  that  Dionysius,  finding  his 
money  short,  equipped  sixty  triremes   under  pre- 
tence of  cruising  and  destroying  pirates  in  the  Tyr- 
rhene sea,  but  in  reality  with  a  view  to  sack  a  mag- 
nificent temple,  which  was  held  in  great  veneration 
at  Pyrgi,  the  Port  of  Agylla.     He  arrived  in  the 
harbour  at  night,  and  having  disposed  his  men  in 
order,  he  commenced  an  attack  upon  the  astonished 
town  at  break  of  day.     It  was  noted  that  but  few 
troops  were  there  at  this  time  to  resist  him;  a  notice 
which  seems  as  if  some  kind  of  standing  army  were 
kept  up  along  the  coast,  otherwise  we  should  rather 
wonder  at  there  being  any  resistance.     He   soon 
made  himself  master  of  the  town,  and  spoiled  the 
temple  of  treasure  to  the  value  of  more  than  a  thou- 
sand talents.     The  men  of  Agylla  came  in  haste  to 
the  rescue,  but  Dionysius  defeated  them,  made  many 
prisoners,  and  devastated  the  country  :  he  then  re- 
turned to  Syracuse  with  a  booty  in  gold  of  five 
hundred  talents,  besides  the  other  large  spoils  that 
he  had  taken.     This  is  told  us  by  Diodorus  Siculus, 
and  by  Aristotle.     An  able  modern  writer  remarks, 
"  This  circumstance,  whilst  it  shows  us  the  great 
wealth  which    the  men   of    Agylla   or   Caere   had 
acquired  in  remote  ages,  so  as  to  be  able  to  adorn 
their  temple  with  such  riches,  shows  us   also  the 
state  of  weakness  to   which  they  were  reduced  in 
the  days  of  the  Roman  republic,  when  they  were 


TARQUINIA. 


151 


not  powerful  enough  to  oppose  with  success  the 
troops  brought  by  Dionysius,  (which  could  not  be 
very  numerous,)  nor  to  prevent  his  ravaging  their 
lands."  To  me  it  merely  proves  what  havoc  may 
at  any  time  be  made  in  a  country,  when  surprised 
by  an  enemy,  without  any  regular  army  kept  up  to 
defend  it.  The  destruction  thus  made  in  the  land 
would  be  much  felt,  and  a  matter  of  great  lamen- 
tation in  those  days ;  for  though  now  little  better 
than  a  desolate  moor,  it  was  then  covered  with 
vineyards,  and  famous  for  its  wine.  Fire  would 
destroy  the  vineyards  in  a  few  hours,  without  sup- 
posing much  hard  fighting  on  either  side,  or  any 
long-continued  depredation.  It  was  probably  an 
affair  that,  from  first  to  last,  did  not  continue  above 
eight-and-forty  hours  ;  a  thing  rendered  still  more 
likely  when  we  consider  the  immense  advantage 
which  Dionysius  had  at  first,  in  having  obtained 
immediate  possession  of  the  towered  and  walled 
city.  Every  Etruscan  city  was  surrounded  by 
walls,  but  Pyrgi  was  particularly  celebrated  by  the 
Greeks  on  account  of  them,  having  them  perhaps 
of  peculiar  beauty,  or  of  extraordinary  height,  or 
strengthened  by  an  unusual  number  of  towers ; 
and  while  they  called  seaports  in  general,  X'iUi;i',  or 
port  merely,  they  called  Pyrgi  einveiov^  or  em- 
porium for  ships  of  magnitude,  with  arsenal  and 
piazza. 

Servius  says  that  Pyrgi  was  a  powerful  fort  in 
the  days  when  the  Etruscans  exercised  piracy  in 
those  seas,  that  is,  at  the  period  when  they  fought 


152 


TARQUINIA. 


against  Mezentius,  and,  according  to  Virgil,  assisted 
iEneas.  Pyrgi  at  that  time  was  not  reckoned  as 
belonging  to  the  Etruscans,  but  it  joined  their  con- 
federacy along  with  Caere  immediately  afterwards. 
The  goddess  Elytia  is  called  Leucothoe  by  the 
Greeks,  and  Mater  Matuta  by  the  Romans.  She 
was  a  maritime  divinity,  and  no  slaves  were  ever 
permitted  to  enter  her  temple.  She  was  the  nurse 
of  Bacchus,  and  was  supplicated  in  behalf  of  all  re- 
lations except  a  man's  own  children,  because,  when 
yet  a  mortal,  she  had  been  most  unfortunate  in 
having;  lost  all  of  hers.  Nothing  is  known  of  the 
later  history  of  Pyrgi  separate  from  that  of  Caere, 
excepting  that,  after  the  fall  of  its  parent  city,  it 
dwindled  into  a  Roman  fort,  and  then  rose  to  be  the 
site  of  Roman  villas,  and  a  bathing  place.  The 
Itinerary  of  Rutilius  contains  this  verse,  descriptive 
of  it  in  his  day: — 


M 


Alsia  praelegitur  tellus  :  Pyrgique  recedunt, 
Nunc  villse  grandes,  oppida  parva  prius, 
Jam  Caeretanos  demonstrat  navita  fines, 
^vo  deposuit  nomen  Agylla  vetus." 


Traces  still  remain  of  the  road  which  led  from 
Pyrgi  to  Agylla,  now  called  Cervetri.  As  it  is  con- 
structed in  the  Roman  manner,  it  is  most  probably 
the  ancient  road  restored  by  the  Romans.  It  passes 
by  a  few  of  the  very  wonderful  and  most  ancient  se- 
pulchres of  Agylla,  in  the  tumulus  form,  but  it 
never  had  any  Roman  tombs  constructed  by  its 
side,  and  it  entered  Agylla  by  the  north  or  prin- 


'k 


TARQUINIA. 


153 


cipal  gate.  The  via  Campana  went  along  the  sea- 
coast  from  Pyrgi  to  Alcium,  and  the  via  Aurelia 
ran  between  Pyrgi  and  Agylla,  leading  from  Rome 
to  Centum  Cellae,  or  Civita  Vecchia,  along  which 
we  were  going. 

We  changed  horses  at  Civita  Vecchia  without  en- 
tering the  town,  to  escape  a  troublesome  searching  of 
luggage ;  and  past  experience  having  taught  us  to 
avoid  the  discomfort  of  the  inns  there,  we  resolved 
to  go  in  one  day  from  Rome  to  Corneto,  and  there 
to  establish  our  head-quarters  at  a  clean  and  well- 
kept  country  inn,  where  some  of  our  party  had  lived 
during  a  former  excursion  to  Tarquinia.  I  cannot, 
however,  pass  Civita  Vecchia  without  making  ho- 
nourable mention  of  the  shop  of  Signor  Pucci,  from 
whom  we  purchased  one  of  the  most  curious  vases 
in  our  collection,  which  had  been  a  prize  of  a  victor 
in  the  horse-race,  representing  on  one  side  his  ar- 
rival at  the  goal  among  the  judges  of  the  race,  and 
on  the  other  a  sharp  contest  between  Hercules  and 
Mercury  for  the  honours  of  the  Palaestra,  allegorical 
of  strength  and  skill  striving  for  the  mastery. 

Beyond  Civita  Vecchia  there  are  no  post-horses, 
though  it  is  probable  that  there  will  be  when  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  finishes  a  magnificent 
highway,  which  he  is  making  through  the  Maremma 
to  lead  from  Florence  to  Rome.  The  road  to  Cor- 
neto is  good  however,  and  very  pretty,  having  the 
Mediterranean,  with  several  islands  and  headlands, 
on  one  side,  and  at  some  distance  on  the  other  a 
range  of  very  picturesque  mountains,   famous  for 

II  5 


154 


TARQUINIA. 


alum  mines,  and  the  chosen  retreat  of  wild  boars- 
High  upon  one  of  these  hills  stands  a  considerable 
village,  called,  I  think,  "  Alumina,"  which  is  a  great 
resort  of  the  Roman  gentry  in  summer,  from  the 
purity  of  the  air,  and  a  certain  mineral  water  which 
is  said  to  be  very  beneficial;  and  all  this  neigh- 
bourhood is  visited  from  time  to  time  during  the 
winter  by  parties  of  foreigners,  who  come  to  shoot 
the  wild  boar,  and  who  are  generally  most  hospi- 
tably received  by  the  land  agents  and  farmers  of  the 
country.     At  certain  seasons  it  is  densely  peopled 
by  bands  of  peasants,  who  come  from  a  great  dis- 
tance to  dig  and  sow,  or,  it  may  be,  to  reap  the  land, 
and  when  their  labours  are  over,  return  home.    Such 
is  the  migration  that,  during  the  dead  or  not  work- 
ing time  of  the  year,  according  to  Signor  Avolta, 
the  town  of  Corneto  contains  nine  thousand  inhabit- 
ants, and,  during  the  time  for  working  the  land,  not 
more  than  four.     One  of  our  party,  who  had  been 
on  these  boar-hunting  excursions,  told  me  that  the 
farmer  with  whom  he  was  quartered  had  with  him  a 
band  of  thirty  shepherds,  who  slept  round  the  court- 
yard,  after   the   manner  of  the   ancient    Tuscans, 
and  whose  employment  all  day  was  milking  and 
tending  the  flocks,  and  making  cheeses  and  ricotta 
(a  sort  of  curd)  from  the  milk  of  goats  and  ewes, 
and   that    their    food    never    was    anything    else, 
morning,   noon,   and    night,   all   the    year    round, 
but   this   same   ricotta,   excepting    twice    a   week, 
when  they  fasted  upon  meal  porridge,  or   polenta 
and  lentils.     He  said   that   they    were   Umbrians, 
5 


TARQUINIA. 


155 


)    J 


and  kept  themselves  most  clannishly  distinct  from 
all  the  other  peasants,  having  a  pride  in  their  an- 
cient country,  which  has  never  changed  its  name 
from  the  earliest  records;  and  also  in  their  descent,  a 
thing  much  prized  by  all  classes  in  Italy.  He  de- 
scribed them  as  tall,  powerful,  and  handsome,  such 
figures  as  we  see  depicted  in  the  ancient  tombs ;  and 
men  of  that  proud  and  high  stamp  of  character,  who 
are  above  robbery,  cruelty,  and  meanness.  I  knew 
that  our  companion  was  neither  loose  in  his  asser- 
tions, nor  hasty  in  his  conclusions  ;  and  I  knew  that 
he  had  had  the  means  of  ascertaining  pretty  fairly 
the  character  of  these  men,  from  his  residence 
among  them,  his  habits  of  observation,  and  his 
fluent  Italian  ;  but  I  did  greatly  doubt  the  accuracy 
of  this  constant  feeding  on  ricotta,  and  endeavoured 
to  give  it  an  explanation  in  my  own  mind,  but  I 
afterwards  found  what  he  told  me  to  be  strictly 
and  literally  true,  and  it  has  probably  been  the 
food  of  central  and  southern  Italy  ever  since  her 
history  was  written,  and  her  soil  inhabited,  being 
the  simplest  and  cheapest  food  I  ever  heard  of,  and 
most  nutritive,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  appear- 
ance and  strength  of  those  who  feed  upon  it.  Some- 
thing of  the  kind  I  have  seen  in  the  highlands  of 
Scotland,  but  by  no  means  so  light,  or  so  palatable 
as  what  the  people  make  in  Italy.  We  travelled 
on  bv  many  scattered  woods  of  the  cork  oak,  which 
I  in  ignorance  mistook  for  stunted  ilex,  and  went 
on  ruminating  about  the  malaria,  which  now  infests 
this  part  of  the   country,  blasting  alike  man  and 


156 


TARQUINIA. 


H 


tree,  until  awakened  from  ray  dream  by  the  in- 
formation of  one  of  our  more  intelligent  com- 
panions, who  related  to  us  the  laws  under  which 
the  cork  is  cut,  and  the  amount  of  profit  yearly 
made  of  it  by  the  papal  government. 

At  length  we  greeted  the  city  of  Corneto,  walled 
and  towered,  upon  a  considerable  height,  command- 
ing an  extensive  view,  and  overlooking  the  sea. 
There  is  a  beautiful  walk  round  the  town,  beneath 
the  walls,  which  ren  inded  me  much  of  Stirling 
Castle  in  Scotland,  and  the  city  has  five  gates,  the 
one  by  which  we  entered  being  very  narrow.  It 
contains  an  old  castle,  a  large  town-house,  two 
cathedrals,  a  bishop's  palace,  and  several  churches, 
all  well  worth  visiting,  and  many  of  them  adorned 
with  the  pillars,  marbles,  and  sculptures  of  old 
Tarquinia,  relics,  perhaps,  of  ancient  fanes  and  of 
a  picturesque,  though  detestable  idolatry.  I  know 
nothing  that  proves  more  strongly  than  the  idolatry 
of  the  heathen,  how  "to  the  pure  all  things  are 
pure,  and  to  the  froward  all  things  are  froward." 
For  whilst  the  elegant  and  classical  mind  can  find 
in  their  superstitions  the  most  elevating  allegories, 
the  vulgar  certainly  not  only  believed  that  the  dumb 
idol  could  hear,  see,  think,  feel,  and  work  miracles, 
but  that  the  vilest,  the  impurest,  and  above  all,  the 
fiercest  passions  of  our  nature,  were  godlike  and 
divine.  I  believe  it  would  advance  Christianity 
more  than  many  a  sermon,  if  Christians,  when  gazing 
on  these  things  with  an  earnest  pity,  would  ask 
themselves,"  How  do  I,  or  how  do  my  people,  differ 


V    . 


TARQUINIA. 


157 


from  those  prosperous  and  magnificent  pagans? 
Do  we  deify  nature,  human  works,  and  human  pas- 
sions? or  are  we  amongst  the  few  who  keep  the 
law,  and  while  we  render  unto  "  Csesar  the  things 
which  are  Caesar's,"  "  render  unto  God  the  things 
which  are  God's  ?"  These  thoughts  were,  I  believe, 
suggested  by  seeing  monuments  of  paganism  used 
in  constructing  and  beautifying  christian  churches. 
The  old  cathedral  of  Corneto,  with  its  high  tower, 
has  been  surmounted  by  four  Tarquinian  horses, 
of  which  one  is  all  that  now  remains,  the  others 
having  been  struck  down  by  lightning,  which  in- 
deed has  for  the  present  seriously  injured  the 
church,  and  caused  it  to  be  abandoned.  It  is  a 
very  old  building,  attributed  to  the  eighth  or  ninth 
century,  adorned  with  many  exquisite  specimens 
of  early  Gothic,  and  with  a  cupola  of  such  fine 
proportions,  that  Bramante  is  said  to  have  taken  it 
as  the  model  of  that  of  St.  Peter's  at  Rome. 

Corneto  is  called  the  "  Queen  of  the  Maremma," 
and  the  "  brightest  jewel  in  the  Pope's  crown," 
because,  in  all  the  wars  between  the  Guelphs  and 
Ghibelines,  it  uniformly  took  the  papal  side,  and, 
in  reward  of  its  fidelity,  a  member  of  the  sacred 
college  is  always  a  Cornetan.  It  first  became  an 
episcopal  see  after  the  death  of  the  fourth  Bishop 
of  Tarquinia,  when  the  progressively  rising  suburb 
took  the  place  of  the  already  fallen  town. 
Cardinal  Fesch  was  the  bountiful  protector  of  a 
convent  of  nuns  here,  celebrated  for  their  beautiful 
embroidery,    and  his    body    and  that    of   Madame 


/ 


158 


TARQUINIA 


Letitia  his  sister,  the  mother  of  Napoleon,  now 
lie  side  by  side  in  the  plain  little  chapel  of  these 
poor  nuns.  The  cardinal,  with  his  great  wealth, 
founded  a  church  at  Ajaccio  in  Corsica,  and 
when  it  is  completed,  the  two  bodies  will  be  re- 
moved thither,  and  deposited  in  his  own  vault. 
Corsica  was  first  colonized  by  the  Etruscans,  and  I 
smiled,  as  the  thought  entered  my  head,  that  per- 
haps that  terror  of  Europe,  stern  despot,  and  able 
lawgiver,  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  the  impress  of 
whose  power  was  written  in  characters  of  blood  and 
fire  even  here,  might,  in  the  chances  of  fate,  be 
descended  from  some  long-forgotten  sire  of  old 
Tarquinia.  That  this  family  was  originally  Tuscan, 
and  that  some  branches  of  it  are  still  existing  in 
Tuscany,  does  not  render  the  idea  less  probable. 

We  entered  Corneto  at  exactly  half  past  twenty- 
three  o'clock,  a  method  of  counting  strictly  adhered 
to  throughout  the  Roman  States,  greatly  to  the 
puzzle  of  an  English  brain,  but  wliich  the  Gon- 
faloniere  assured  me  was  infinitely  preferable  to  the 
English  method,  and  also  more  exact,  for  every 
day  when  the  sun  sets  you  know  what  o'clock  it 
is,  viz.  exactly  twenty-four;  whereas  in  England 
no  one  ever  knows  without  trouble  at  what  hour 
"  the  orb  of  day  bathes  his  red  forehead  in  the 
main."  The  people  of  the  Romap  States  now,  are 
much  disgusted  at  the  idea  of  the  sun  setting  every 
day  at  a  different  hour. 

On  arriving,  we  eagerly  sought  out  the  com- 
fortable little  inn  where  we  intended  to  establish 


TARQUINIA. 


169 


i'A 


ourselves.  But  to  our  dismay  we  found  that  it  was 
full,  so  we  were  obliged  to  turn  to  a  magnificent 
baronial  pile  of  the  middle  ages,  called  the 
Palazzaccio,  which  looked  doubly  imposing  in  the 
dusky  twilight ;  and  driving  under  its  ample  arched 
gateway,  we  halted  in  its  courts,  surrounded  by 
various  stories  of  Saracenic  looking  galleries,  and 
loudly  called  for  Padrone  and  Camerieri.  No  one 
for  some  time  appeared,  until  at  length  a  squalid 
wretch  peeped  from  behind  a  pillar,  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  Padrone,  a  man  whose  unprepossess- 
ing exterior  was  not  improved  by  intoxication,  a 
rare  instance  of  that  vice  in  Italy,  He  hic- 
cupped a  welcome,  and  proceeded  to  usher  us  up  a 
broad  flight  of  marble  steps,  across  Gothic  corri- 
dors, into  one  or  two  dingy  chambers,  from  the 
beds  of  which  he  had  evidently  a  moment  before 
dislodged  a  band  of  wagoners.  In  despair  at  this 
unpromising  reception,  we  returned  to  the  shelter 
of  our  carriage  in  the  court,  while  one  of  our  party 
desired  to  be  conducted  to  the  Gonfaloniere  Carlo 
Avolta,  with  whom  he  had  formerly  been  ac- 
quainted. A  great  municipal  meeting  had  just 
been  held  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  where  this  worthy 
magistrate  was  still  to  be  found.  His  greeting  was 
a  cordial  embrace,  and  a  prompt  ofier  of  assistance; 
and  hastening  to  the  carriage,  he  conducted  us  to  a 
comfortable  private  house,  where  some  of  our  party 
procured  bedrooms,  while  the  rest  were  invited  to 
revisit  the  little  inn  where  we  had  at  first  been 
refused    admission,  but    from   whence  the  already 


160 


TARQUINIA. 


arrived  guests  were  in  some  unaccountable  manner 
made  to  vanish,  and  where  we  were  supplied  with 
as  many  rooms  as  we  required.  After  this  little 
episode  concerning:  the  realities  of  life,  we  again 
fell  into  our  dreams  and  speculations  about  ancient 
Etruria,  and  were  glad  to  be  guided  as  to  the 
method  of  following  them  out  by  the  enthusiasm 
and  kindness  of  Carlo  Avolta,  in  whom  centres  the 
rarest  union  of  essential  requisites  which  a  cicerone 
can  possess  ;  long  experience,  a  warm  imagination, 
unwearied  energy  of  mind  and  activity  of  body, 
the  most  perfect  cordiality  of  disposition,  and  polite 
and  gentlemanly  attention.  He  left  us  to  repose 
after  the  fatigues  of  the  day  and  the  scramble  of 
the  night,  and  arranged  for  us  a  plan  of  sight- 
seeing during  the  next  few  days,  which  enabled  us 
to  visit  thoroughly  the  sites  of  Tarquinia,  Tuscania, 

and  Vulci. 

When  Etruria  was  finally  reduced  under  the  yoke 
of  the  Roman  commonwealth,  Tarquinia  shared  the 
fate  of  Vulci,  Caere,  and  other  great  cities,  and, 
stript  of  independence,  its  importance  soon  dwindled 
away.  Its  ancient  Lucumones  made  way  for  the 
magistrates  of  the  Eoman  municipia,  which  raised 
its  head  over  the  ruins  of  the  once  mighty  Etruscan 
capital,  and  the  ancient  lords  of  the  soil  were  dis- 
lodged from  their  possessions,  or  even  became  the 
serfs  of  their  upstart  successors.  How^  long  Tar- 
quinia existed  in  this  fallen  state  is  a  matter  of  doubt. 
That  it  continued  to  be  a  place  of  some  importance 
after   the  establishment  of  Christianity,  is  proved 


TARQUINIA. 


161 


from  the  names  of  its  bishops,  who  appear  on  record 
as  Episcopi  Tarquinienses ;  and  we  have  no  certain 
knowledgfe  of  the  time  when  it  ceased  to  be  inha- 
bited,  and  fully  shared  the  fate  of  Nineveh,  Babylon, 
and  Tyre  ;  cities  with  which,  during  the  long  course 
of  its  prosperity,  it  contemporaneously  flourished. 
But  after  it  was  reduced  under  the  Romans,  its 
existence  must  have  been  a  mere  lingering  on 
the  mouth  of  its  tomb.  According  to  historical 
notices  upon  which  we  can  depend,  Corneto  was 
then  Cortnessa,  a  suburb  and  fortified  castle  belong- 
ing to  the  capital,  and  no  doubt,  as  the  metropolis 
sank  into  decay,  the  suburb  rose  into  importance, 
peopled  by  an  Etruscan  race,  the  wreck  of  the 
ancient  inhabitants  of  Tarquinia,  who  in  this  ob- 
scurity sought  shelter  from  the  upstart  insolence 
of  the  Roman  municipia.  Time  at  length  levels 
all  things,  and  the  Romans  found  the  force  of  this 
truth  when  Goth  and  Greek  disputed  the  possession 
of  their  own  capital.  During  the  convulsions  of 
that  miserable  period  of  barbarous  violence,  Roman 
Tarquinia  fell,  and  found  no  chronicler  to  record 
its  destruction.  Those  who  escaped  the  sword,  and 
its  probable  accompaniments  of  fire  and  famine, 
joined  themselves  to  the  Etruscan  colony  which 
had  been  silently  making  a  progressive  increase. 
The  Tarquinian  bishop  carried  his  pastoral  staff  a 
few  miles  onwards,  and  the  proud  capital  of  Etruria 
ceased  even  to  be  the  shadow  of  a  shade.  All  was 
gone,  Tarquinian  glory,  Roman  civic  consequence, 
and   christian   metropolitan   dignity,    and    thence- 


162 


TARQUINIA. 


forward  nothing  remained  but  the  ruins  which 
crowned  the  rocky  ridge  of  the  sicen  hill,  and 
formed  a  touching  object  of  picturesque  beauty  and 
melancholy  association  to  the  Cornetans.  Ere 
long  this  too  vanished,  the  ruins  dwindled  to  sub- 
structions, and  these  also  disappeared  from  their 
rocky  foundations,  which,  except  to  a  very  narrow 
examiner,  are  alone  left  to  tell  the  tale  of  the 
magnificent  load  they  once  bore.  And  it  is  probable 
that  this  tale  would  long  ere  now  have  become  as 
much  the  subject  of  learned  doubt  as  that  of  Veii, 
and  that  we  should  have  had  some  transplanting 
the  Etruscan  capital  hither,  and  others  thither, 
while  others  again  began  to  dispute  whether  such  a 
place  had  ever  existed ;  did  not  the  voice  of  truth 
make  itself  to  be  heard  from  the  tomb,  and  direct 
us  to  seek  for  departed  grandeur  in  the  long  and 
narrow  house  to  which  all  living,  whether  glorious 
or  base,  are  so  rapidly  tending. 

Cardinal  Garampi,  the  Bishop  of  Corneto  and 
Monte  Fiascone,  says,  that  in  his  time,  a.  d.  178(), 
the  hill  called  Turchina,  or  Tarquinia,  was  an  im- 
mense plain  entirely  covered  with  ruins,  the  remains 
of  a  distinguished  city  which  had  bishops  of  its 
own,  until  the  invasion  of  the  Saracens  in  the 
seventh,  eighth,  or  ninth  century  ! !  He  says  that 
Tarquinia  is  supposed  to  have  been  destroyed  by 
the  Saracens,  and  that  the  opposite  hill  of  much 
more  difficult  access,  near  Corneto,  then  began  to 
be  peopled.  It  was  first  called  Corgnitum,  perhaps 
from  the  quantity  of  pebbles  or  corgnali  abounding 


TARQUINIA. 


163 


T 


on  it.  The  population  of  this  place  he  believes  to 
have  subdued  Tarquinia,  until  it  became  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Cornetani,  who  subdued  what  was  left 
of  the  ancient  city  in  a.  d.  1307.  A  diligent 
antiquary  might  arrive  at  more  certain  history 
from  records  still  remaining  in  Corneto.  There 
are  inscriptions  in  the  old  cathedral  which  give 
the  date  of  the  change  of  bishops,  but  which  I  did 
not  copy,  and  which  the  cardinal  appears  never  to 
have  consulted.  His  testimony  is  valuable  for 
what  he  saw  himself,  and  for  what  was  told  him 
by  those  to  whom  he  applied,  but  he  appears  to 
have  been  no  antiquary,  and  but  little  of  a  scholar. 

In  ancient  Tarquinia,  the  city  of  the  living 
covered  the  rocky  ridge  of  one  steep  hill,  while  the 
necropolis,  or  city  of  the  dead,  crowned  the  summit 
of  an  opposite  hill,  separated  from  the  former  by  a 
wide  and  deep  valley,  and  extending  over  a  broad 
table  land  which  overlooks  the  sea,  and  which, 
though  now  distant  several  miles,  probably  in  these 
early  times  covered  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
present  flat  coast.  Modern  Corneto,  then  probably 
an  outwork  or  castle  attached  to  the  city,  occupies 
a  point  which  commands  a  fine  view  of  both,  from 
which  it  is  equidistant  about  two  miles.  The  ac- 
companying map  or  sketch  may  be  the  best  way 
of  explaining  their  relative  position,  which  is  of 
some  importance  with  a  view  to  a  right  understand- 
ing of  the  subject. 

The  day  after  our  arrival  at  Corneto  we  devoted 
to  the  tombs  of  Tarquinia,  and   we  drove  to   the 


164 


TARQUINIA. 


distance  of  about  three  miles  from  the  town,  until 
we  found  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  a  dreary  moor 
now  called  Monterozzi,  which  is  all  that  remains 
above  ground  of  the  once  superb  necropolis  or 
burying-ground.  It  is  extremely  rugged  and  un- 
even, and  every  now  and  then  we  saw  traces  of 
some  little  mounds,  and,  still  more  frequently,  holes 
on  the  surface  like  the  mouths  of  pits,  sometimes 
openings  like  doors  down  into  the  ground,  and  oc- 
casionally flights  of  steps  half  concealed.  We  found 
only  one  a'-chitectural  remnant  above  ground,  a 
low  round  tower,  which  in  shape  and  circumference 
reminded  us  of  the  tomb  of  Cecilia  Metella  on  the 
Via  Appia,  but  which  had  probably  never  risen 
much  above  its  present  height,  but  had  been  sur- 
mounted by  a  conical  mound  of  earth,  according 
to  the  common  Etruscan  fashion.  We  entered  by 
a  door  below  the  present  level  of  the  ground,  and 
found  ourselves  in  a  vault  which  had  been  the 
receptacle  of  the  dead.  We  visited  some  other 
less  perfect  specimens  of  the  same  style,  and  it  is 
probable  that  this  was  the  prevailing  form  of 
Etruscan  monuments  in  general,  but  that  they 
varied  in  size  according  to  whether  they  were  in- 
tended to  receive  a  single  body,  a  private  family,  the 
head  of  a  great  race  with  its  numerous  branches,  or 
a  mighty  ruler  of  the  land,  with  his  ministers  and 
followers,  such  as  the  immense  and  once  splendid 
tomb  at  Caere,  of  which  the  Regulini  Gallassi  cells 
formed  a  part.  The  one  which  we  are  now  con- 
sidering must  have  been  of  very  moderate  size,  and 


I 


4 

1 


4 


TARQUINIA. 


165 


\ 


s 


V 

s 


V 


s 


contained  few  if  more  than  one  body  ;  but  it  is  in- 
teresting from  its  superior  state  of  preservation. 
We  saw  the  substructions  of  others,  with  several 
entrances  which  had  been  the  doors  of  distinct 
tombs.  An  Etruscan  necropolis  must  have  had  a 
striking  effect,  crowded  with  such  monumental 
mounds,  crowned  with  lions  or  sphynxes,  and  based 
upon  foundations  of  solid  masonry,  with  doors  all 
round,  and  having  cope-stones  adorned  with  lions, 
sphynxes,  and  griffins. 

In  the  major  part  of  these  monuments,  by  which 
the  cemeteries  of  the  Etruscan  cities  were  filled,  it  is 
probable  that  the  mounds  were  artificial,  and  raised 
after  the  surrounding  wall  had  been  built.  But 
in  the  case  of  large  tumuli,  such  as  that  which  con- 
tained the  Lucumo  at  Agylla,  who  must  have  been 
great  as  Mezentius  himself,  or  that  nameless  one  at 
what  is  now  called  Monterone,  at  the  door  of  which 
the  Duchess  of  Sermoneta  was  in  vain  attempting 
to  knock,  not  having  even  found  it  when  we  were 
there,  it  is  evident  that  advantage  had  been  taken 
of  a  natural  hillock,  which  was  pared  down  and 
trimmed  into  right  conical  shape  and  sepulchral 
fashion,  and  surrounded  with  a  massive  wall,  by 
way  of  base,  which  contained  the  doors  into  the 
various  funereal  chambers.  The  grandee  in  whose 
honour  all  this  preparation  had  been  made,  reposed 
like  a  Pharaoh  in  a  pyramid  in  the  centre  part  of 
the  hillock ;  and  it  is  a  point  which  I  have  heard 
disputed,  whether  his  grave  was  anterior  or  pos- 
terior to  those  below.  It  was  at  all  events  frequently 


j. 


166 


TARQUINIA. 


TARQUINIA. 


167 


4 


the  intention  to  keep  secret  the  resting  place  of 
the  most  illustrious  dead,  as  the  duchess  has  found 
to  her  cost ;  for  while  the  inferior  tombs  round  the 
base  were  easily  discovered,  she  was  obliged  to 
slice  down  the  entire  hillock  in  order  to  find  the 
mysterious  central  chamber,  and  as  yet,  eight 
months  since,  in  vain.  To  my  mind,  at  this  time, 
the  idea  of  the  chief  tomb  being  anterior  was 
ridiculous,  and  not  very  unlike  the  supposition 
of  the  prirao  piano  of  a  house  being  anterior  to  the 
base ;  but  I  mention  it,  not  only  because  I  have 
since  entirely  changed  my  views,  but  because  I 
then  heard  it  maintained  by  men  of  learning  and 
experience,  whose  opinions  are  always  entitled  to 

respect. 

Signor  Carlo  Avolta  informed  us  that  the  necro- 
polis of  Tarquinia  was  computed  to  extend  over 
sixteen  square  miles,  and  that  judging  from  the 
two  thousand  tombs  which  had  of  late  years  been 
opened,  their  number  in  all  could  not  be  less  than 
two  millions!  What  an  extraordinary  idea  this 
gives  of  the  dense  population  of  ancient  Etruria ! 
for  though  the  necropolis  of  Tarquinia  may  have  been 
a  favourite  spot  for  family  sepulchres,  even  beyond 
the  pale  of  its  own  immediate  citizenship,  it  is  sur- 
rounded on  all  sides  by  cemeteries  scarcely  inferior 
in  extent  to  itself,  Tuscania  and  Vulci  and  Mon- 
talto,  without  naming  Castel  d'Asso,  which  we 
shall  afterwards  describe  as  having  probably  been 
the  Westminster  Abbey  of  Central  Etruria.  Truly, 
the  voice  from  the  dead,  which  these  princes  and 


I 


Lucumones  of  the  early  world  send  forth,  tells  us 
great  things  of  their  potent  sway  over  a  numerous 
people,  and  leads  us  to  contrast  the  desolation  and 
barbarism  of  imperial,  and  still  more  of  papal  Italy, 
with  the  flourishing  state  of  things  which  must 
have  existed  there  when  the  world  was  young. 
We  now  often  see  a  few  squalid  emaciated  indivi- 
duals, half  scared  away  by  pestilential  air,  and  half 
starved  with  insufficient  food,  straggling  over  the 
barren  waste,  whose  only  trace  of  real  habitation  is 
to  be  found  in  the  records  of  its  former  inhabitants, 
dead  three  thousand  years  ago.  This  was  dreadfully 
the  case  at  Psestum,  but  in  a  measure  it  is  true  of 
every  place  where  the  malaria  prevails.  The  ancient 
inhabitants  must  have  been  a  populous,  wealthy, 
and,  to  judge  from  their  paintings,  a  merry  and 
somewhat  epicurean  race,  who  knew  how  to  make 
the  most  of  the  good  things  which  the  home  of  their 
fathers  produced,  before  the  Roman  sword  brought 
with  it  the  malaria,  and  sent  conscriptions  and  pes- 
tilence to  depopulate  the  land.  These  were  bright 
and  sunny  days  in  old  Etruria,  when  every  man  sat 
under  his  own  vine,  and  under  his  own  fig-tree, 
when  Tages  taught  how  to  read  fortunes  from  the 
swoop  of  an  eagle's  wing,  and  when  Tarchon  pre- 
sided on  the  magisterial  bench. 

Of  the  great  number  of  tombs  which  have  of  late 
years  been  excavated  in  this  immense  and  rabbit 
warren-like  necropolis,  only  nine  have  been  preserved 
and  committed  to  the  charge  of  a  custode  for  the  in- 
spection of  the  curious.  Few  of  the  others  discovered 


I 


I 


168 


TARQUINIA. 


in  our  day  have  been  remarkable  for  paintings,  or 
have  differed  from  the  usual  character  of  tombs,  but 
were  important  from  their  contents  only,  and  there- 
fore, when  rifled,  have  been  filled  up,  or  left  to  neg- 
lect. It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  those  which 
contained  the  most  valuable  materials,  such  as 
painted  vases  of  high  price,  and  ornaments  of  gold 
or  of  bronze,  did  not  seem  to  be  of  the  very  highest 
order  in  other  respects,  and  were  not  painted  ;  and 
that  the  beautifully  decorated  tombs  which  unques- 
tionably belonged  to  the  persons  of  most  exalted 
rank  were  invariably  empty,  having  been  long  since 
the  prey  of  the  spoiler.  Thus,  the  lowly  cottage 
stands,  while  the  high  towers  fall.  Tradition  con- 
tinued to  mark  the  graves  of  the  illustrious  Lucu- 
mones,  which  were  visited  for  the  sake  of  plunder 
when  the  day  of  spoliation  came,  while  those  which 
were  less  known  as  depositories  of  precious  contents 
have  come  down  unscathed  even  to  our  time. 

But  it  is  not  easy  to  answer  the  question,  when  was 
this  season  of  spoliation  ?  Has  every  now  and  then, 
during  past  ages,  a  spirit  of  inquiry  arisen  on  these 
subjects  like  the  one  which  now  prevails,  and  have 
the  bronze,  and  the  gold,  and  the  terra  cotta  stores 
been  the  prize  of  this  curiosity  ?  This  is  very  im- 
probable at  Tarquinia,  except  at  chance  times,  and 
on  a  very  small  scale,  when  a  proprietor  or  a  pea- 
sant happened  to  light  upon  some  object  of  value  in 
the  course  of  his  labours.  Were  they,  then,  pillaged 
by  the  greedy,  usurping  Romans  during  the  latter 
end   of  the  republic,   when    Etruria    was    finally 


TARQUINIA. 


169 


enslaved  ?     This  is  also  improbable,  for  the  Roman 
greed  of  gain,  and  unfeeling   regardlessness  of  the 
rights  of  others,  would  in  this  case  be  counteracted 
by  superstition,  which  threatened  the  violator  of  the 
sepulchre  with  punishment  from  the  avenging  infer- 
nal deities,  and  by  the  resistance  which  such  an  act 
would  certainly  have   excited  amongst  the  people. 
Tarquinia,  though  indeed  subdued  and  at  times  in- 
sulted, counted,  to  the  last,  consuls  and  senators  of 
Rome  amongst  her  native  chiefs.   Were  these  tombs 
then  emptied  of  their  treasures  in  later  times  after 
the  conversion  of  the  empire  to  Christianity — when 
cupidity  was  relieved  from  the  restraints  of  consci- 
ence, and  when  the  tomb  of  the  heathen  claimed  no 
tender  respect  as  a  place  of  holy  rest  ?  This  is  much 
more  probable,  and  would  point  out  the  reigns  of 
Theodosius  or  Valentinian  as  being  about  the  time 
when  it  is  likely  that  the  most   valuable  tombs  of 
Tarquinia,  and  indeed  of  Etruria,  were  visited  and 
plundered.  It  is,  moreover,  matter  of  history,  that  this 
was  the  case  in  the  mass,  whatever  may  have  been 
the  date  of  opening  any  one  grave  in  particular.     I 
may  mention  another  theory,  which,   if  it  does  not 
convince  me,  I  am  yet  disposed  to  receive  with  some 
respect,  as  it  is  that  of  the  veteran  Avolta,  viz.  that 
the  most  precious  of  the  Tarquinian  tombs  were 
rifled  neither  by  conquering  Romans  nor  by  rapacious 
Christians,  but  by  the  hands  of  Etruscans  them- 
selves, at  a  time  not  long  subsequent  to  their  erec- 
tion. He  thinks  that  that  the  architects  who  made  the 
tombs  preserved  the  secret  of  their  entrance,  which 


170 


TARQtriNIA. 


was  afterwards  used  by  themselves,  or  handed 
down  in  their  families,  offering  a  tempting  gratifica- 
tion to  greed,  or  preventive  of  poverty.  This 
opinion,  I  confess,  appeared  very  fanciful ;  for  this 
species  of  pillage  could  not,  without  detection,  have 
been  carried  on  in  the  wholesale  way,  which  alone 
would  account  for  the  emptiness  of  so  many  recepta- 
cles of  the  dead,  besides  that  the  sacredness  of  the 
last  resting-place  was  one  of  the  deepest  feelings 
cherished  in  the  breast  of  every  old  Italian. 

Travelling  over  this  immense  necropolis  on  foot, 
and  being  in  danger  at  every  step  of  tumbling  into 
some  pitfall  looking  grave,  we  arrived  at  length  at 
the  top  of  a  flight  of  twenty  steps  which  led  to  a 
tomb  called,  from  its  aspect  in  the  part  of  the  necro- 
polis where  it  is  situated, 

"  GROTTA    DEL    MARE." 

The  doors  of  this  and  of  the  other  tombs  have  the 
same  general  character.  They  are  not  built  of  stone, 
but  consist  of  one  or  two  large  slabs  cut  out  of  the 
tufo,  and  stand  directly  opposite  the  flight  of  steps 
anciently  formed  in  the  rock,  which  led  to  them 
from  the  upper  level.  This  tomb  consists  of  two 
small  chambers,  about  fifteen  or  sixteen  feet  long 
and  ten  wide,  with  a  door  ornamented  with  lines  of 
red,  blue,  and  yellow,  and  over  the  door  are  two 
figures  of  leopards.  The  inner  chamber  has  a 
vaulted  roof  divided  by  a  beam,  and  is  diced  on  each 
side  in  white,  red,  and  blue.  The  colours  are  in 
native  ochres  ;  and  so  indeed  are  all  the  paintings  in 
all  the  tombs  which  are  not  in  fresco.  Both  the  cham- 


TARQUINTA. 


171 


bersof  this  tomb  have  a  broad  stone  ledge  all  round 
them,  on  which  rested  the  sarcophagi,  or  it  may  be 
(if  it  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  tombs)  the  dead  body 
itself,  clad  in  armour,  or  dressed  in  robes  of  cere- 
mony.    The  fashion  seems  to  have  been  universal  in 
Etruria,  that  the  corpses  should  be  deposited  in  a 
vault,  most  anciently  perhaps  without  a  coffin ;  but 
in  general  in  a  stone  or  terra  cotta  coffin,  with  a  lid 
of  the  same  material,  or  of  baked  clay,  surmounted 
by   an   image   of  the   deceased.     In   this   part   of 
Etruria,  it  is  very  rare  to  find  a  burnt  body,  but 
further  north,  about  Chiusi,  Cortona,  and  Volterra, 
bodies,  both  buried  and  burnt,  are  constantly  found 
in  the  same  tomb,  so  that  both  modes  of  disposing  of 
them  must  have  existed  contemporaneously,  unless 
we  suppose  these  different  modes  to  mark  differences 
of  date  in  the  generations  of  the  family  occupying  the 
tomb,  the  earlier  ones  being  buried  whole,  and  the 
later  ones  burnt.     The  reason  of  doubt  rests  chiefly 
upon  the  very  ancient  urns,  found  in  curule  chairs 
within  the  territory  of  Chiusi,  which  prove  that  per- 
sons  of  curule   rank   were   burnt  in  very  remote 
times.      Perhaps    it   was    the   mode   of  sepulture 

amongst  the  Umbri. 

We  quitted  this  tomb  and  again  traversed  a  portion 
of  the  great  necropolis,  teeming  like  a  rabbit  warren 
with  holes  and  burrows  ;  but,  before  describing  the 
other  painted  tombs,  I  wish  to  apologize  for  the 
many  deficiencies  in  the  account  of  them  which 
occasionally  occur.  When  upon  the  spot,  I  had  not 
the  remotest  idea  of  making  this  tour  public,  and  in 

I  2 


L\ 


172 


TARQL'INIA, 


consequence  I  only  noted  such  things  as  strike  tra- 
vellers in  general,  and  when  after  our  return  home  I 
was  induced  to  make  these  daily  perishin(/  and  most 
interesting  tombs  better  known  to  my  countrymen, 
then,  indeed,  I  was  grieved  to  find  how  little  I  had 
studiously  remarked,  and  how  much  I  had  forgotten. 
Those  who  honour  this  work  by  taking  it  as  a  guide, 
will,  I  hope,  excuse  the  mistakes  that  may  occur  as 
to  position,  size,  or  minute  items  of  decoration.  They 
do  not  affect  the  general  character  of  the  tombs,  and 
will,  I  hope,  be  found  few  and  unimportant. 

The  next  tomb  which  we  visited  was  discovered 
in  1827,  and  is  called 

"  GROTTA    DELLA    BIGA," 

on  account  of  the  principal  subject  represented  on 
its  walls,  which  is  chariot  races.  It  is  cut  out  of  the 
tufo,  and  has  a  door  similar  to  the  Grotta  del  Mare. 
It  is  a  square  chamber  of  about  sixteen  or  seventeen 
feet  in  dimension  ;  the  roof  is  vaulted,  with  a  painted 
beam  across  it,  and  diced  in  red,  white,  blue,  and 
black,  ornamented  with  wreaths  of  Bacchic  ivy. 
Over  the  door  are  represented  two  leopards  and  two 
geese,  both  of  which  animals  are  sacred  to  Bacchus,* 
the  president  of  the  funeral  feasts.  The  walls  are 
divided  into  two  compartments,  an  under  and  upper 
one,  on  which  are  painted  different  classes  of  sub- 
jects. To  the  right  of  the  door,  in  the  lower  part, 
are  represented  three  dancers  and  four  dancing  girls, 

*  The  learned  antiquarians  in  Italy  call  this  god  Bacchus,  but  it 
always  appeared  to  me  a  most  inappropriate  name.  He  is  the  great 
god  of  departed  spirits,  the  same  as  Osiris  of  the  Egyptians,  and  often 
called  by  the  Etruscans  themselves  Tina. 


TARQUINIA. 


173 


who  are  animated  by  the  sound  of  the  double  flute, 
which  one  of  them  plays.     The  dancers  are  clothed 
in  a  short  light  tunic,  which  leaves  free  play  to 
their  limbs,  and  the  ladies'  dress  is  at  once  airy  and 
elegant,  being  a  rich  but  slight  robe,  with  a  beauti- 
ful border  embroidered  in  stars,  and  agitated  to  and 
fro  by  their  rapid  and  fantastic  movements.     They 
have  ornamented  sandals  on  their  feet,  and  chaplets 
hanging  from  their  necks,  while  the  men  are  bare 
headed'and  barefooted.      Their  feet  are  twinkling 
about   in  rapid  motion,  and  their  extended  hands 
beat   time,  in    the   still    scarcely    obsolete    Italian 
fashion,  as  an  accompaniment.  Between  each  dancer 
stands  a  tree  of  olive  or  myrtle,  sacred  to  the  dead. 
In  the  upper  compartment  all  is  bustle  and  prepara- 
tion for  a  chariot  race.     The  Circensian  games  are 
here  in  full  activity.     There  are  five  chariots,  some 
already  starting,  guided  by  their  charioteers,  and 
some  in  the  act  of  being  yoked.     At  the  end  is  the 
stand  for  the  spectators,  with  the  velarium  or  awning 
folded  back,  to  be  used  if  necessary,  and  having 
two  stories,  the  one  above  for  the  more  noble  and 
distinguished  spectators,  the  ladies  being  dressed  in 
tunic  and  cloak,  and  with  head-dresses,  the  men  in 
mantle  without  tunic  ;  and  the  one  below  for  com- 
pany of  inferior  note,  the  people,  or  plebs.     On  the 
side  of  the  wall  opposite  the  entrance,  the  under 
compartment  represents  the  funeral  banquet,  with 
three  couches,  and  on  each  a  man  and  a  woman  lean- 
ing on  rich  cushions  ;  the  elegant  dresses  and  highly 
ornamented  furniture  indicate  the  rank  and  wealth 


174 


TARQUINIA. 


of  the   deceased.      All   are   crowned  with  myrtle. 
Two  are  raising  the  goblet  to  their  lips,  while  the 
rest  are  about  to  eat  eggs,  w^ith  which  the  Etruscans 
used  to  commence  their  repasts.     There  is  the  usual 
accompaniment  of  a  flute-player,  and  there  are  two 
youthful  attendants,  the  one  with  a  myrtle  branch, 
and  the  other  with  a  goblet.     Five  ducks,  an  animal 
sacred  to  Bacchus,  are  waiting  at  the  foot  of  the  table 
for  the  crumbs.     In  the  upper  compartment  there  is 
a  continuation  of  the  stands  which  we  have  described 
on  the  other  wall ;  but  here,  instead  of  chariot  races, 
the  spectators  are  entertained  with  various  gymnas- 
tic exercises  and  games,  such  as  wrestling,  playing 
with  the  cestus,  leaping,  equestrian  tours  de  force, 
Sec.    Above  these  compartments,  there  is  a  third  sub- 
ject just  beneath  the  vault  of  the  roof,  viz.  a  bracket 
surmounted  by  a  large  vase,  on  each  side  of  which 
stand  two  women  with  dishevelled  hair,  one  hold- 
ing a  small  vase  and  the  other  a  sacrificial  instru- 
ment,  as  if  about  to  pour  out  a  libation.     On  each 
side  of  these  is  stretched  a  man  leaning  on  double 
cushions,  the  one  bearded  and  crowned  with  myrtle, 
the  other  beardless  and  crowned  with  olive.     On 
the  wall,  to  the  left  of  the  entrance,  the  under  com- 
partment represents  a  group  of  dancers,  and  the 
upper,  gymnastic  sports,  such  as  boxing,  throwing 
quoits,  hurling  the  lance,  and  foot-races,  all  similar 
to  those  which  have  been  already  described  on  the 
other  side.     In  this,  as  in  the  other  painted  tombs, 
besides  the  real  door,  there  were  painted  doors  on 
the  sides,  and  at  the  upper  end,  opposite  the  en. 


TARQUINIA, 


175 


trance ;  and  these  were  of  a  red  colour,  and  studded 
with  white  spots,  not  unlike  the  heads  of  immense 
nails.     In  painting  the  tombs,  they  began  by  cover- 
ing the  tufo  walls  with  a  preparation  of  sand,  on 
which  they  scraped  the  outline  of  the  subject,  and  in 
many  instances  now  the  colour  is  fading,  but  the  out- 
line is  distinct,  and  enables  us  to  trace  perfectly  the 
desio-n.     It  is  much  to  be  desired  that  a  series  of 
exac°t  copies  of  all  these  curious  paintings  were  made 
while  they  are  yet  in  some  degree  of  preservation, 
for  to  judge  from  past  experience,   they  will  ere 
many  years  disappear.     When  they  were  first  dis- 
covered, accurate  copies  of  a  few  of  them,  as  they 
then  stood,  were  taken  to  adorn  one  of  the  halls  of 
the  Gregorian  Museum,  as  we  have  already  men- 
tioned, and  since  then,  decay  has  been  making  sad 
progress ;  for  we  looked  in  vain  for  some  of  the  ob- 
jects  which  had  attracted  our  attention  in  the  copies, 
and  began  to  accuse  them  of  inaccuracy,  when  I  saw 
that  all  the  colours  were  already  effaced  from  those 
parts  where  once  the  subject  had  been  depicted, 
though  the  outlines  may  still  with  attention  be  dis- 
cerned.    We  were  able  to  procure  only  two  prints 
of  them  from  the  Archaeological  Society  in  Rome, 
showing  how  they  appeared  when  first  discovered  ; 
and  a  third  was  presented  to  us  by  Carlo  Avolta. 
It  is  given  as  the  frontispiece,  and  is  taken  from  the 
Grotta  del  Tifone. 
We  next  visited  the 

"  GROTTA  DEL  BARONE," 

SO  called  from  having  been  discovered  by  our  poor 


176 


TARQUINIA. 


friend  Baron  Stackelberg  in  1827.  All  round  the 
walls  of  the  chamber,  which  is  about  sixteen  feet 
square,  there  is  painted  a  broad  tri-colored  ribbon  of 
yellow,  blue,  and  red,  and  below  this  there  is  a  series 
of  men  with  horses  in  various  attitudes  and  occupa- 
tions, some  standing  mounted,  some  riding  along, 
and  some  dismounted  and  leading.  The  horses  are 
red,  black  and  blue,  and  of  the  form  of  the  present 
Dongola  breed.  The  Etruscans  used  colours  conven- 
tionally, representing  things  in  certain  relations  and 
positions;  for  instance,  in  the  picture  of  a  race, 
blue  mio;ht  be  the  colour  used  to  mark  the  winnins: 
horse.  The  colours  are  decaying,  but  the  outline  is 
easily  made  out,  for  it  has  been  traced  prior  to 
painting  upon  the  sand  which  covers  the  tufo  wall. 
At  the  upper  end  two  figures  of  unequal  size  are 
represented,  and  one  of  them  is  making  an  offering 
to  a  divinity.  They  have  a  stiff  Egyptian  look. 
Over  the  door,  on  each  side  of  it,  are  a  sea-horse 
and  a  dolphin.  There  were  more  figures  and  occu- 
pations in  this  grotto,  and  I  regret  not  to  give  a 
better  description,  but  I  dare  not  trust  my  memory 
further.* 

Our  next  visit  was  to  the 

GROTTA    DELLE    ISCRIZIONI,   DISCOVERED    IN    1828, 

so  called  on  account  of  a  great  number  of  inscrip- 
tions in  the  Etruscan  language,  which  are  to  be 
seen  on  the  walls,  and  which  give  it  much  additional 

•  Sir  William  Gell  says  that  in  one  of  the  tombs  there  is  a  paint- 
ing of  riding  at  the  ring,  and  the  game  of  single  stick.  They  may 
possibly  be  her. 


<r 


» 


WM/Z/^yy/l^^^ 


/r'  /■//,/ 


».! 


/ 


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'ii.  .f/f 


^  ^t\r'^'    ^    r    i\    ^]/ 

I 


j_j — 


C; >/'!■'    n/f/  r/'  ^''rrffr/  ^7rr£my'//r 


\)    o    o     o   o   u 

CO"      :>    -^    ^ 

o 

a 

o 

J    ..  o    a   o  J  J   1 

O    Q     O     O     O    O    O    O 
O 

u 


InteTir/r 


•'//// 


TARQUINIA. 


177 


interest.      The  situation  of  this  tomb  is  very    ro- 
mantic.    It  was  not,  like  some  of  the  others  which 
we  visited,  in  the  centre  of  the  flat  table  land  which 
forms  the  necropolis,  but  it  was  in  the  face  of  the 
steep  rocky  hill  which  forms  the  limit  of  that  ne- 
cropolis  to   the  inland,  and    overlooks  the  broad 
valley  which  separates  it  from  the  ridge  and  height 
on  which  formerly  stood  the  city  of  Tarquinia.     We 
paused  as  we  entered  the  door  of  this  tomb,  cut 
out  of  the  tufo  rock,  like  all  the  others,  and  viewed 
the   interesting   prospect    before    us,    the    site    of 
Etruria's   ancient  capital.      We   looked  for  traces 
of  buildings,  but  we  could  distinguish  nothing  more 
than  the  rocks  which  had  served  for  substructions : 
not  even  a  vestige  of  masonry  was  visible.     Stand- 
ing at  the  gate  of  the  city  of  the  dead,  we  in  vain 
tried  to  discover  what  had  been  once  the  city  of 
the  living,  and  thought  the  enduring  reality  of  the 
one,   and   the  evanescence  of  the  other,  a  fitting 
type  of  mortal  existence.     The  site  of  one  of  the 
mightiest  cities  of  ancient  Europe  can  scarcely  be 
discovered  ;    her  works  of  piety  and  ornament,  her 
solemn  temples,  her  solid  aqueducts,  her  magnificent 
theatres  and  forum,  the  trophies  of  her  glory,  her 
triumphal     arches,    and    stately     colonnades,     all 
crumbled   in    the   dust,    and   not   even    appearing 
above  the  rocks  which  supported  them  :^  the  form 
of  her  government  and  the  vicissitudes  of  her  his- 
tory being  a  curious  question  of  antiquarian  doubt 

*  All  these  buildings  had  a  real  existence  in  Tarquinia,  as  we  learn 
from  Vitruvius. 

I  5 


178 


TARQUINIA. 


line  of  letters  thus 
Priestess  Caesanna 


and  speculation,   and   the   story    of   her    downfa 
wrapped  in  mystery.     All  that  now  remains  to  tell 
of  her   greatness   is   the   receptacle  in  which  she 

deposited  her  dead. 

The  inscriptions  in  this  tomb  give  us  some  insight 
into  its  history.      The  first  is  a  long  semicircular 

^d  may  be  translated—"  The 
Mtuesaa  calls  these  games  in 

honour  of  the  Lar  deceased."     "  The  glory  of  his 
age,  the   protector   of  our  temples  and  our  com- 
merce."     Following   this,  comes  the  funeral  pro- 
cession.     First,  the  newly-elected  Lar  Matuesius, 
perhaps  brother  to  the  priestess— then  the  families 
of  the  Lucumones  who  are  his  nearest  of  kin,  or 
whose  offices   oblige    them    to   bear  a  part  in  his 
funereal   train.      One  individual   only    is  given  of 
each  family,   on  account  of  the   confined  space  in 
which   they   are   represented.     Here   we    see   the 
Lenea  and  the  Pompey,  both  very  noble  houses  of 
Tarquinia.      Following   them    the    Prince    Aruns 
Athvinacna  representing  the  younger  branches  of 
the  ruling   house.     Aruns  means   a  cadet   prince. 
After    this    come    the    Laris    Phanuris    or   sacred 
mourners  for  the   king,  and  the  Velthuri  or  pre- 
sidents of  the  various  games  and  sacrifices.     These 
games  are  racing,  wrestling,  and  boxing  ;  the  sacri- 
fice is  a   blue  fish  to   the  manes  of  the  departed. 
The  races   are  contested  by  the  royal  guard,  here 
called  "  Laris  Larthia,"  or  "  Guardia  Nobile."    The 
wrestling  is  between  Nucerteles,  or  Nicoteles,  and 


fh 


< 


4'i 


.1 


// 


y/. 


// 


//  /// 


.//•/■/  //'/// 


s////  //;///. 


A  ^/y 


\        / )  r  ^  / 1 


/;//>///////.   /I//////  //'/   /;////////// 


A 


TARQUINIA. 


179 


«  ^Ae  Greeft,"  perhaps  some  celebrated  freedman  or 
slave.  The  boxing  is  between  Anthasi  and  Verenes 
the  son  of  Mea.  This  at  least  is  a  probable  version 
of  the  story,  and  satisfied  us  after  a  very  long  and 
careful  study  of  this  tomb.  The  deceased  Lar  him- 
self is  not  mentioned  amongst  the  inscriptions,  for 
his  name  and  simple  epitaph  would  be  deeply  en- 
graved upon  his  ponderous  coffin,  which  lay  with 
his  likeness  at  full  length  upon  the  lid  of  it,  on 
one  side  of  this  painted  chamber. 

It  is  difficult  for  me  to  explain  the  inscriptions 
without  bringing  forward  more  learning  than  will 
be  acceptable  to  the  general  reader,  but  I  will 
make  them  as  simple  and  intelligible  as  I  can. 

On  entering  the  Camera  delle  Iscrizioni,  we  per- 
ceived above  the  door  two  tigers,  as  if  ready  to  spring 
on  the  bold  violator  of  the  repose  of  the  tomb,  and 
on  either  side  a  faun  with  a  cup  in  his  hand,  lying 
recumbent  on  a  frieze,  composed  of  party-coloured 
lines,  which  go  all  round  the  chamber,  and  at  the 
foot  of  each  faun  stands  a  goose.  On  the  right 
hand  of  the  door  the  sacrifice  is  represented.  A 
naked  and  beardless  youth,  with  a  nondescript  in- 
strument in  his  right  hand,  stoops  over  a  sort  of 
gridiron,  on  which  he  is  about  to  roast  a  bluish 
fish,  which  he  holds  in  his  left.  Opposite  this  youth 
stands  a  naked  old  man  with  a  beard,  who  appears 
to  command  him,  and  who  holds  in  one  hand  a  long 
rod,  perhaps  the  badge  of  his  priestly  dignity. 
Over  his  head  is  written  VELTHUR.  Suspended 
from  the  wall  are  two  fillets  or  chaplets,  with  which 


\ 


180 


TARQUINIA. 


r 
m 

<c 

CO 

m 

o 


^ 

^ 


it  was  common  for  the  ancients  to  ornament  their 
tombs.     The  inscription  is  as  follows  : — 

This  being  read  from  right  to  left  may  be  thus 
rendered — 

CIVESANAMATVESICALESECE : 
EVRASVCLESVASPHESTEHICHVACHA. 

These  words  should  be  divided  thus — 

ClVESANA    MATUESA,    CALESECE 

EURA,    SUCLE,    SUAS,    PflESTEHI,  ChUACHA. 

"  Caesana  Matuesa,"  both  noble  patrician  names 
of  Tarquinia.      She  was  a  priestess,  for  no  other 
woman  could  call  the   games.     This  lady,  "  Cale- 
sece,"  i.  e.  convocavit,  called  the  games.     The  in- 
scription is  placed  over  a  herald  with  a  long  sceptre, 
but   the   termination  of  the   names  shows  that   he 
was  sent  by  a  woman.     Stackelberg  reads  the  name 
Gives  Ana,  &c.  i.  e.  "  Citizen  Ana ;"  the  priestess 
Ana  a  citizen  ;  possibly  the  first  who  called  games 
after  Tarquinia,  was  admitted   to  the  citizenship  of 
Rome,  B.  c.  280.     Most  antiquaries,  however,  think 
that  this  tomb  cannot  be  of  so  late  a  date.     The 
names  of  Ana,  Matuesa,  and  Caesanna,  we  learn 
from  Cicero  and  from   many  inscriptions,  to  have 
been  noble  families  of  this  place.      That  "  Cives" 
in  Etruscan  means  citizen,  we  learn  from  Varro. 

"  EuRA,"  probably  "  glory,"  from  the  Hebrew — 
an  element  which  abounded  in  Etruscan. 


; 


1 


) 


TARQUINIA. 


181 


"  SucLE,"— saeculum— age.  "  PHESTEHI,"  or, 
as  Sir  William  Gell  reads  it,  "  PHESTHIU," 
probably  the  same  as  PHISTHV— the  old  name  of 
Paestum — or  the  "  Sea-Port." 

CHVACHA,  the  same  as  x««'  x^«^''«'»  ^^  ^^^ 
Greeks,  offerings  to  the  dead.  Sir  William  Gell 
reads  it  FANA,  a  Fane,  a  sacred  place,  or  temple. 
Hence,  "  Glory  of  his  age,  and  of  the  sea-ports, 
and  Temples ;"  i.  e.  "  Protector  of  Religion  and 
Commerce."  Sir  William  Gell  gives  the  inscrip- 
tion in  this  form : 

or  reading  it  backwards  thus — 

NAMA  TPECI  CALESECE; 

EURAKFKLESFAS    PHESTHIU.     FANA. 

The  other  reading,  however,  appeared  to  us  the 
more  correct,  as  we  made  it  out  by  the  help  of  an 
extract  from  Baron  Stackelberg. 

On  the  left  side  of  the  door  are  two  figures,  both 
naked,  one  with  and  the  other  without  a  beard,  be- 
side a  table,  whereon  they  are  playing  at  dice.  The 
one,  bending  over  it,  anxiously  observes  the  throw, 
while  the  other  stands  opposite,  ready  to  advance 
the  point  which  he  has  gained.  The  dice  and  the 
points  are  not  seen,  because  the  table  is  hollow.  On 
the  right  hand  wall  of  the  chamber  there  is  a  false 
door,  on  one  side  of  which  is  represented  a  couch 
with  cushions,  embroidered  in  various  colours.  A 
bearded  figure,  with  his  waist  covered  with  a  blue 
band,  and  with  both  his  arms  clasping  five  olive 


182 


TARQUINIA. 


I 
I 


twigs  to  his  breast,  seems  hastening  to  obey  the 
order  of  another  person,  who  has  the  head  adorned 
with  two  fillets,  and  is  clad  in  a  long  mantle,  with  this 

imperfect  inscription   g3||H/| 3*=!  or  VE  .  . . 

ANIIES,  conjectured  to  be  the  name  Velthur 
Annius.  The  name  VELTHUR  is  so  common, 
and  always  given  to  persons  in  authority,  that  it 
appears  to  indicate  some  office  or  rank,  and  most 
probably  meant  president  or  governor.  On  the 
other  side  of  the  door,  a  figure  inscribed  V^  V\  V^ 
or  PUNPU,  the  Roman  Pompeius  or  Pomponius, 
our  Pompey,  dressed  in  blue,  and  with  red  buskins, 
has  his  hands  filled  with  vessels,  and  is  preceded 
by  a  person  dressed  in  red  striped  with  black,  who 
carries  on  his  shoulders  a  vase,  and  in  his  hand  a 
tazza,  and  who  is  inscribed  3  \  \  •jj^^-f-    or  TETIIE^ 

or  TITILIUS.  Another  figure,  w  ith  a  chain  round 
his  neck,  and  sharp  pointed  shoes,  seems  to  be 
hurrying  him  forward,  and  has  over  him  the  in- 
scription, 4M^/lMRO/?S/9  o^  ARATHVI- 
NACNA,  that  is,  according  to  some,  Arrunti' 
nianus;  according  to  others,  Arthuinacena.  Gell 
reads  it  Ar  Arithreikeie,  or  Aruns  Arithreike — the 
young  prince  or  representative  of  the  cadet  princes. 

The  next  name  is  written,23/l  M3/  :T393v/I"=?ri 
or  AVILEREC  lENIIES,  or  LENEUS— a  cog- 
nomen adopted  from  Etruria  by  the  Gens  Popilia 
in  Rome.  Vermiglioli  tells  us  that  the  houses  of 
Laiinu  and  the  Punpu  possessed  some  of  the 
noblest  tombs   in  Tarquinia.      The   next   name  is 


11. 


'/. 


/y  /^.y 


//?/'////     /A//>  "-  /jr^/J^/.A^u/ 


s////  //;/// 


I 


/'///ft r  /////  //  fi"   ''fr 


////. 


i 


TARQUINIA. 


183 


aa'Rf^  Oq^vl  or  LARTHMATVES,  or 
LARTH  MATUES  :— The  new  sovereign  Matues, 
or  the  person  appointed  to  represent  him  in  this 
ceremony.  He  is  naked,  and  wears  buskins,  bear- 
ing  in  one  hand  a  tazza  for  an  offering,  and  in  the 
other  two  fillets.  He  has  a  necklace  on  his  neck, 
another  garland  upon  his  right  arm,  and  another 
upon  his  cap.  He  bears  altogether  four  garlands, 
and  may  be  represented  naked,  as  the  greatest 
mark   of  sorrow,   or,  as  I   have  sometimes  hoped, 

allegorically. 

The  upper  end  of  the  room  is  divided   by  a  false 
door,  on  one  side  of  which  is  a  group,  consisting  of 
a  naked  female  dancer,  with  a  gold  and  jewelled 
necklace,  an  azure  fillet  on  the  head,  with  blonde 
and  short  hair,  and  red  pointed  buskins.     The  in- 
scription avqVM48  eiS4N/  or  LARIS  PHA- 
NURIS,  probably  refers  to  the  flute-player  by  her 
side,    with     red    fillets,    buskins,    and    mustachios. 
Ph'aNURIS,  some  learned  men  think,  relates  to 
a    fane  or  temple.     Hence  a  tomb,  where  yearly 
games  were   held,   or   prayers   were  made,   might 
also    be    called   Fanum    or    Fanu,    and   LARIS 
PHANURIS   may  mean   "Mourner  in  the   fane 
of   the     Lar,    or    sovereign."     Next    comes    ano- 
ther  female  dancer,  naked,  with  superb  necklace 
and    red    peaked    buskins,   with   this    inscription, 
\BiaV\3r^'^^^OVlA/\Aov  ARANTHLEC 
lENEIEI,  the   name  of  the   family  LAENIUS, 
which  I  am  inclined  to  believe,  from  its  repetition. 


I 


184 


TARQUINIA. 


was  the  family  of  the  Lar  to  whom  this  sepulchre 
belonged.  Aranti  lixa  Laenii — some  famous  dancer 
belonging  to  the  family  of  the  Laeniii.  Her  little 
dog  has  the  inscription,  4V834  or  AEPHLA, 
perhaps  act  ^tX?;,  always  friend,  a  fitting  name  for 
a  faithful  four-footed  companion. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  door  are  four  naked 
beardless  youths,  mounted  on  coursers,  and  ad- 
vancing the  one  after  the  other,  as  if  to  the  race- 
course, preceded  by  a  herald,  who  is  inscribed  with 

the  name  >^V0^3T  or  VELTHUR,  director 
of  the  course.     The  first  of  these  cavaliers  only  is 

named  ^//Oq^Nje/ ^  ^>J  or  LARIS  LAR- 
THIA.  ffuard  of  the  Lar  or  Larthia.  "  Guardia 
nobile."  The  horses  are  red,  and  two  of  them 
have  blue  tails  and  manes.  It  is  worthy  of  notice, 
that  the  Delphic  oracle  used  sometimes  to  com- 
mand a  procession  of  naked  men  on  horseback,  in 
order  to  appease  an  offended  divinity,  as  at  Pyrgi, 
already  mentioned,  where  they  were  ordered  to  atone 
for  the  murder  of  the  Phocians.  Above  the  door, 
various  animals,  lions,  stags,  and  leopards,  are  re- 
presented. 

On  the  other  side-wall  are  painted,  on  one  side  of 
the  door,  the  continuation  of  the  equestrian  pro- 
cession ;  and  on  the  other,  two  wrestlers  in  a  very 
spirited  attitude.     Over  the  one  is  written  the  name 

3>/atSl  VHor  NUCRTELE,  or  NICOTELES  ; 
and  over  the  other,     31391 13    or   EICRECE 

in  which  some  learned  Italians  have  read  ?)  Tpai^v — 


■ 


TARQUINIA. 


185 


the  Etruscan  form  of  the  "  The  Greek,'"  perhaps  son 
of  a  Greek  slave.  And  then  follows  a  boxing- 
match  to  the  sound  of  the  double  flute,  which  is 
played  by   a   youth    dressed    in    blue    with    a   red 

border,  with  the  inscription  ISA0H4  or  AN- 
THASI,  or   ANTHASIUS.     One   of  the   boxers 

bears  the  fragment  of  a   name  •  •  •  •  M  ^  ^  I  8   or 

PHIVAN;  and  the  other.  I3VV1  <23M3131 
or  VECENES  MEI,  or  MEIUS ;  Vicinius  and 
Mens  were  both  family  names,  and  this  boxer  was 
probably  Vecenes  by  his  father,  and  Mei  by  his 
mother.  Boxing  to  the  sound  of  the  flute  proves 
what  may  be  found  in  several  ancient  writers,  that 
the  gymnastic  games  of  the  Etruscans  were  often 
to  music.  This,  as  well  from  the  beauty  of  the 
design  as  from  the  number  of  inscriptions,  is  one 
of  the  most  important  of  the  sepulchral  chambers 
of  Tarquinia.  The  action  of  the  figures  is  exagge- 
rated,  but  the  execution  is  fine.  The  outer  door 
of  this  tomb  was  formed  of  large  masses  of  stone, 
very  richly  carved,  of  which  we  saw  some  fine  frag- 
ments lying  on  the  ground.  The  figures  upon  it 
were  two  Hippocampi  at  the  top,  whilst  lions  and 
grifiins  alternated  with  a  sort  of  flower  in  the 
squares.  A  sketch  of  it  is  here  given.  We  spent 
above  an  hour  in  this  tomb,  verifying  the  inscrip- 
tions as  above  given,  but  Sir  William  Gell  reads 
some  of  them  differently,  and  I  will  give  his  version 
for  the  benefit  of  future  travellers.  The  elderly 
person   dancing   next   to   the   Laris    Phanuris    he 


186 


TARQUINIA. 


reads  3l3>\:3<OlaAQA  Ar— Arithreike. 
The  next,    |  j  |  ^   \  ^   which  he   conjectures  to 

mean  vioi,  or  filli,  or  sons.  Beyond  Punpu  he  describes 
a  man  in  a  red  robe  with  two  fillets  round  his  head, 
each  set  with  what  may  represent  pearls  or  silver 
balls,  and  which  he  supposes  to  be  a  royal  or  sacer- 
dotal crown.  The  name  he  reads  <^sj  |  |/V1 
MILES,  or  ^  3  / 1  M  ^"^IIES  ;  another  is  present- 
ing to  him  two  branches  of  laurel.  We  had  not  Gell's 
book  with  us,  and  did  not  observe  this  crown. 
Next  to  him  comes  an  Athleta,  and  next  to  him  the 
Herald  of  Ana  Matuesa. 

In  this  sepulchre  we  rested  and  ate  our  baked 
meats,  pouring  forth  a  libation  to  the  memory  of 
departed  greatness  as  we  closed  the  door,  and 
sallied  forth  on  our  way  to  the  next  sepulchre  of 
the  mighty  and  the  great  unknown.  Striking  was 
the  contrast,  when  having  thus  become  familiar 
with  so  much  of  the  appearance,  dress,  manners, 
and  customs  of  the  ancient  Tarquinians,  we  saw, 
on  emerging  from  the  tomb,  once  more  before  us, 
the  naked  and  desolate  site  of  the  ancient  city,  the 
once  splendid  home  of  those  whose  faces  we  had 
just  been  scanning,  and  whose  names  we  had  been 
attempting  to  decipher. 

The  next  tomb  that  we  visited  is  called 

CAMERA    DEL    MORTO,    DISCOVERED    BY    CAV.    MANZI, 

IN    1833. 

It    is    very    small,    not  exceeding    ten    feet    in 


/ 


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/'  /iV 


^  ff//ff  /  'f   /  A  /    ///  /  /' 


)> 


^1 


m 


III 


Iv- 


n 


-I  I- 


n 


/    ////    /.///   /\f/f;/f/f/ 


n 


TARQUINIA. 


187 


length  ;  but  it  is  most  interesting  from  the  affect- 
ing scene  of  domestic  manners  which  it  exhibits, 
the  preparation  of  a  dead  body  for  its  last  resting- 
place,  and  the  piety  of  the  daughter  and  friends 
of  the   deceased.      The  paintings  remain  only  on 
three  walls  of  this  chamber ;  those  on  the  side  of 
the  entrance,  which  consisted  of  fabulous  animals, 
being  obliterated.      On  entering,   we  were  struck 
with  the  graceful  figure  of  a  girl  clad  in  a  mantle  and 
tunic,  having  jewelled  ears  and  pointed  buskins,  with 
hair  dishevelled,  and  in  an  attitude  of  grief,  who  per- 
forms the  last  sad  offices  to  an  aged  man.     He,  vene- 
rable from  his  white  hair  and  beard,  is  laid  out  on  a 
bed  of  state  ornamented  with  purple,  and  covered 
with  a  tunic,  which  reaches  midway  down  the  leg, 
and  is  joined  to  a  hood  like  that  of  modern  friars, 
coming    over    his   head,    which  rests  on  a  double 
pillow.     Above  the  lady  is  written    fl^  1 8^  /I  M  /IT 
or  TANARSIRA,  in  which  we  may  perhaps  find  a 
union  of  the  Greek  words  Qavaroc,  and  lepci,  death 
and   sacred,   in  allusion  to  the  pious   task   of  this 
young  mourner,  who  performs  the  sacred  obsequies 
of  her  deceased  parent.     To  watch  the  last  moments 
as  well  as  to  close  the  eyes  and  mouth,  to  wash  the 
body  and  to  anoint  it,  was  always  the  child's  office. 
And  here  she  is  assisted  by  a  son,  or  some  very  near 
relation,  who  touches  the  knees  of  the  corpse  with 
his  left  hand,  his  right  being  raised  to  his  head, 
with  the  expression  of  lively  sorrow,  while  he  bids 
his  last  adieu,     tn  a  similar  attitude  of  affiiction 
another  man  naked  and  bearded  stands  beside  the 


f/.-.f-'if^'/'  '/  -'  /'•//'/'  ''^  'f'jtfjft^t^t/jt 


188 


TARQUINIA. 


bed,  perhaps  a  brother  of  the  deceased,  who  sympa- 
thizes with  the  grief  of  the  children.  A  fragment  of 
an  inscription  ^3M3or  ENEL,isall  that  remains. 
The  usage  of  the  Etruscans  to  honour  their  dead 
with  dancing  and  music  is  not  here  forgotten.  The 
very  chamber  of  death  is  represented  as  not  with- 
out tliis  somewhat  incongruous  accompaniment ; 
while  on  the  middle  wall  a  dancer  is  introduced, 
who  to  the  sound  of  the  flute  pours  out  a  liba- 
tion beside  a  large  vase  ornamented  with  fillets, 
placed  in  the  centre  of  the  picture ;  and  two  more 
dancers  are  represented,  one  of  whom  is  empty- 
ing a  tazza.  These  figures  are  naked,  and  have 
coronets  or  circlets  on  the  head,  on  the  arm,  or 
in  the  right  hand.  Funereal  wreaths  or  chaplets 
are  hung  round  the  walls  of  this  tomb,  and  here 
and  there  are  seen  to  depend  from  the  branches  of 
young  olive  trees,  as  was  common  among  the  an- 
cients, who  hung  them  upon  this  plant,  which  they 
regarded  as  sacred  to  the  dead.  I  have  already 
mentioned  this  funeral  scene  as  being  copied  in  the 
Gregorian  Museum. 

GROTTA    DEL    TRICLINIO,    OR    MARZI. 

Quitting  this  house  of  mourning,  where  we  saw 
that  the  affections  and  feelings  were  the  same  three 
thousand  years  ago  as  they  are  to-day,  we  entered 
a  mar  sion  of  a  very  different  character,  the  house 
of  feasting,  where  a  scene  of  splendid  and  luxurious 
revelry  is  less  appropriately  depicted  in  the  silent 
abode  of  the   dead.      "  Camera    dei  triclinii  e  del 


I 


REDUCTION 

RATIO 

CHANGE(S) 

WITHIN 
TITLE 


firi'//i/      ill/    7/  /r////  /n 


TARQLINIA. 


189 


ballo"— chamber  of  feasting  and  dancing.     Here  is 
a  full  display  of  Etruscan    magnificence  in    dress, 
furniture,  and  all  the  accessories  of  sumptuous  living. 
The  roof  is  vaulted,  and  ornamented    with   divers 
colours,  and  divided  in  the  midst  by  a  beam  which 
is  gracefully  twined  with  branches  of  bacchic  ivy. 
Above   the    frieze   opposite   the   entrance   are    two 
men,  both  in  an  attitude  of  supplication,  and  above 
the  door   itself   are  two   panthers,  the  usual  guar- 
dians of  the  tomb.     At  the  side  of  the  door  are  two 
youthful  horsemen  seated  sideways  upon  their  steeds, 
very  slightly  dressed,  and  with  lances  in  their  hands. 
The    picture  of  the   middle  wall    represents    three 
couches,  each  containing  a  man  and  a  woman.     In 
front  of  two  of  these  are  tables  covered  with  vases, 
and  in  front   of  a  third  is   a    large    vessel    out    of 
which   wine  is  poured  into   smaller   vessels,    to    be 
handed  round  to  the  guests  by  a  young  slave.     The 
party-coloured  coverings  of  the  tables  and  couches 
are  \ery   beautiful,  as  well   as  the    splendid    festal 
dresses  of  the  guests  and  their  crowns  of  ivy  and 
olive.     An  attendant   richly  dressed  is  playing   on 
the  double  flute,  whilst  the   guests  are  turning  to- 
wards each  other  in  various  attitudes  and  with  lively 
gestures,  and  seem  much  more  occupied  with  the 
pleasures  of  society  than  with  those  of  the  table  ; 
but  the  feast  is  already  begun,  for  one  of  the  ladies 
is  in  the  act  of  breaking  an  egg,  and  one  of  the  gen- 
tlemen is  receiving  a  cup  of  wine.     The  ladies'^are 
adorned  with  rich  necklaces  and  bracelets.     Oint- 
ments and  perfumes  also,  so  essential  to  the  luxurious 


190 


TARQUINIA, 


habitsof  the  ancients,  are  not  wanting  to  this  banquet. 
The  clatter  of  the  dishes,  and  the  smell  of  the  meatsi 
have  attracted  to  the  feast  a  tame  leopard,  a  partridge, 
and  a  cock,  which  are  assiduously  picking  up  the 
crumbs  of  good  things.  Above  the  couches  hang 
crowns  or  chaplets,  with  which  the  guests  at  the  end 
of  the  entertainment  used  to  adorn  their  heads, 
necks,  and  arms,  when  they  took  their  luxurious 
siesta,  or  further  indulged  in  the  pleasures  of  the 
goblet.  The  funereal  feast  being  concluded,  the 
dance  commences.  The  ballet  consists  of  eight 
persons,  and  the  musicians  are  two,  a  player  on  the 
lyre  and  one  on  the  double  flute,  but  even  they 
take  a  part  in  the  dance.  The  prima  danzatrice 
moves  her  hands  as  if  she  had  castanets,  while  the 
last  holds  a  wreath  of  ivy,  with  which  most  of  them 
are  crowned.  They  are  all  handsomely  buskined, 
and  accompany  the  dance  with  a  lively  movement 
of  the  head  and  arms,  which  reminded  me  of  the 
tarantela.  Signor  Avolta,  however,  claimed  it  as 
the  original  of  a  dance  which  had  been  handed 
down  in  this  part  of  the  country  even  to  the  days 
of  his  youth,  but  which  has  now  fallen  into  disuse: 
he  told  me  he  had  danced  in  this  manner  when  he 
was  a  boy,  but  conplained  that  now  French  dances 
and  French  fashions  were  obliterating  all  their 
national  customs.  The  dance,  however,  I  am  told, 
is  still  kept  up  in  Campania.  The  dresses  of 
these  dancers  are  of  the  most  splendid  material, 
embroidered  with  minute  stars,  and  adorned  with 
party-coloured  garnitures ;    their   necks  are  orna- 


TARQUINIA. 


191 


mented  with  costly  collars,  their  ears  with  pen- 
dents, and  their  arms  with  bracelets.  The  youths 
are  divided  from  the  dancing  girls  by  olive  and 
myrtle  trees,  covered  with  chaplets,  in  the  branches 
of  which  are  perched  various  birds  ;  while  hares, 
wolves,  deer,  and  other  animals,  are  jumping  up 
to  the  stems,  or  gamboling  below  in  evident  enjoy- 
ment of  the  feast.  The  vase  placed  on  the  ground 
is  filled  with  wine,  to  be  drunk  by  the  dancers  in 
honour  of  Bacchus.  In  this  grotto,  when  first 
opened,  stood  a  very  large  and  handsome  sarco- 
phagus in  travertine.  The  effigy  upon  the  lid  re- 
])resented  as  usual  a  man  very  richly  dressed,  and 
wearino-  all  sorts  of  ornaments  ;  he  held  a  libation 
cup  in  his  hand,  and  a  greyhound  was  leaping  up 
towards  it.  I  believe  the  cofl[in  was  empty.  It 
was  taken  away,  copied  and  engraved,  and  the 
original  was  sold. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  all  the  animals  in  this 
frieze  are  sacred,  and  that  the  plant  next  to  the 
flute-player  is  a  lotus  with  fillets  hanging  from  it,  as 
there  are  also  from  two  of  the  olive  trees,  and  these 
fillets  have  a  deep  fringe — some  suppose  that  they 
were  prizes  for  the  best  dancer,  the  best  player,  and 
the  best  javelin  thrower — others  think  that  they 
were  merely  to  mark  the  rank  of  the  deceased.  The 
olive,  the  myrtle,  the  lotus,  and  the  ivy,  were  all 
sacred  plants.  Speaking  of  this  tomb,  Signor  Carlo 
Ruspi  says,  that  had  the  damp  which  covered  the 
walls  soon  after  its  first  exposure  to  the  air  been 
carefully  wiped  off",  and  the  whole  been  then  washed 


192 


TARQUINIA. 


over  with   aqua   reggia,  the  whole  of  the  colours 
would  have  been  preserved. 

GROTTA  BELLA    QUERCIOLA,    DISCOVERED    IN    1832    BY 
CAV.    MA>ZI    AND    SIGNOR    EGEDIO    QUERCIOLA. 

A  tomb  more  splendid  than  any  which  I  have  yet 
described,  is  that  which  from  its  subject  I  will  call 
"  Camera  del  triclinio  grande,''  but  which  is  on  the 
spot  called  della  querciola,  and  of  which  I  have  given 
a  very  accurate  drawing,  procured  from  the  Archaeo- 
logical Society.  None  of  the  paintings  are  shaded. 
This  camera  is  much  larger  than  any  of  those 
already  mentioned,  being,  I  should  think,  about 
twenty  feet  square.  Nothing  can  exceed  the  ele- 
o-ance  of  the  forms,  the  richness  of  the  dress,  and  the 
beauty  of  the  ornaments.  The  principal  subjects  on 
the  side-walls  are  highly  adorned  dancers  of  both 
sexes,  and  at  the  upper  end  there  is  a  magnificent 
banquet  with  festal  tables,  luxurious  couches,  and 
sumptuously  attired  guests.  But,  as  will  be  seen 
from  the  picture,  the  devastations  of  damp,  neglect, 
and  the  outer  air,  have  already  destroyed  nearly  one 
half  of  the  principal  subjects,  and  the  whole  is  going 
rapidly  to  decay,  so  that  ere  long  it  must  be  totally 
obliterated.  It  is  much  worse  preserved  than  any 
of  the  others,  which  is  extremely  unfortunate,  as 
from  its  size,  the  variety  of  its  subjects,  and  the 
beauty  of  its  execution,  it  is  even  more  valuable  and 
curious  than  the  rest.  Beside  the  principal  groups, 
there  are  smaller  and  subordinate  subjects  in  differ- 
ent compartments.     There  is  a  well-preserved  naked 


^ 


H 


N\^ 


/V///  X  //'/// 


TAnQUINIA. 


193 


■ 


y 


figure  of  an  elderly  man  who  seems  to  be  seated  on 
the  ledge  of  a  bath,  or,  as  some  of  our  party  thought, 
was  about  to  be  offered  up  in  sacrifice.  There  are 
friezes  representing  boar-hunts,  the  chasseurs  being 
of  different  ranks,  and  with  appropriate  arms.  There 
are  also  other  friezes  with  equestrian  figures  appa- 
rently throwing  the  javelin,  but  these  were  so  much 
defaced  that  we  had  great  difficulty  in  ascertaining 
what  they  were.  At  the  end  of  one  wall  is  a  buffet 
filled  with  vases,  and  interesting  as  showing  how 
the  ancients  themselves  disposed  them.  Three  of 
the  guests  at  this  feast  appear  to  be  listening  to  the 
praises  of  the  dead,  which  were  always  sung  on 
these  occasions.  Two  are  drinking  wine  to  his 
memory,  and  two  I  suppose  to  be  an  afflicted 
mother  consoled  by  her  remaining  son.  This  tomb 
is  copied  in  the  Gregorian  Museum. 

The  description  and  the  drawing  of  a  tazza  of  great 
beauty  and  unique  style,  which  comes  from  this  necro- 
polis, and  which  we  were  so  fortunate  as  to  procure 
at  Corneto,  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  funeral  feasts 
which  are  represented  on  several  of  these  tombs. 
The  red  colour  and  natural  and  elegant  character 
of  the  figures  show  that  this  tazza  is  of  the  later 
Etruscan  period,  after  the  native  style  had  received 
the  impression  of  Greek  art,  and  the  inscription 
which  is  round  it  of  rnXoc'v  o  Traic,  *'  may  the  boy  be 
beautiful,"  makes  it  probable  that  it  adorned  the 
tomb  of  a  young  man.  The  subject  painted  on  it  is  a 
funeral  feast.     In  the  hollow  part  of  the  tazza  there 


L-.^-?^ 


/'  RjT 


ri 


i 


w 


TAT^QUINIA. 


193 


figure  of  an  elderly  man  who  seems  to  be  seated  on 
the  ledge  of  a  bath,  or,  as  some  of  our  party  thought, 
was  about  to  be  offered  up  in  sacrifice.     There  are 
friezes  representing  boar-hunts,  the  chasseurs  being 
of  different  ranks,  and  with  appropriate  arms.  There 
are  also  other  friezes  with  equestrian   figures  appa- 
rently throwing  the  javelin,  but  these  were  so  much 
defaced  that  we  had  great  difficulty  in  ascertaining 
what  they  were.     At  the  end  of  one  wall  is  a  buffet 
filled  with  vases,  and   interesting  as  showing  how 
the  ancients  themselves  disposed  them.     Three  of 
the  guests  at  this  feast  appear  to  be  listening  to  the 
praises  of  the   dead,  which   were  always  sung  on 
these  occasions.     Two    are   drinking   wine    to    his 
memory,    and   two    I   suppose    to    be    an    afflicted 
mother  consoled  by  her  remaining  son.     This  tomb 
is  copied  in  the  Gregorian  Museum. 

The  description  and  the  drawing  of  a  tazza  of  great 
beauty  and  unique  style,  whichcomes  from  this  necro- 
polis, and  which  we  were  so  fortunate  as  to  procure 
at  Corneto,  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  funeral  feasts 
which  are  represented  on  several  of  these  tombs. 
The  red  colour  and  natural  and  elegant  character 
of  the  fio-ures  show  that  this  tazza  is  of  the  later 
Etruscan^period,  after  the  native  style  had  received 
the  impression  of  Greek  art,  and  the   inscription 
which  is  round  it  of  KaXoc"/)  o  Traic,  "  niay  the  boy  be 
beautiful,"  makes  it  probable  that  it  adorned  the 
tomb  of  a  young  man.     The  subject  painted  on  it  is  a 
funeral  feast.     In  the  hollow  part  of  the  tazza  there 


\ 


y 


/rff/td  /t^    7''^/  '/' 


///    f/fr  Jf 


■fS.^tnf/, 


194 


TARQUINIA. 


is  a  figure  of  a  man,  who,  from  his  air  of  business 
and  his  walking-stick,  seems  to  be  going  on  an 
errand  which  requires  despatch.  He  is  probably 
the  messenger  sent  to  invite  the  guests  to  the  enter- 
tainment ;  and  round  the  lower  part  of  the  tazza, 
where  generally  the  greatest  elegance  of  design  and 
beauty  of  execution  are  displayed,  we  have  the 
guests  already  assembled  at  the  festive  board, 
in  full  enjoyment  of  the  good  things  of  the  ban- 
quet. There  are  six  male  figures,  loosely  dressed, 
reclining  on  couches,  and  supported  on  richly  em- 
broidered cushions.  One  of  them  is  playing  on  the 
flute ;  several  of  them  have  goblets  in  their  hands, 
and  all  seem  engaged  in  the  most  animated  discourse, 
which  they  render  more  impressive  by  strongly 
marked  gestures.  Two  lamps  are  suspended  over 
their  heads,  and  the  more  substantial  dainties  have 
been  removed  to  make  way  for  the  wine-cup,  in 
which,  as  it  is  a  bachelor's  party,  they  seem  to  be  in- 
dulging pretty  freely.  The  thing  that  gives  a 
peculiar  value  to  this  tazza  is  the  extraordinary 
collection  of  drinking  cups  displayed  on  the  table, 
around  which  they  are  reclining,  and  which  show 
the  giver  of  the  feast  to  have  been  a  man  curious  in 
goblets,  and  an  amateur  of  odd  shapes.  Besides 
some  elegantly  formed  tazze,  not  unlike  the  one  on 
wkich  all  this  is  represented,  and  some  other  vessels, 
there  are  drinking  cups,  like  what  are  now  in  use 
amongst  ourselves,  made  of  buffalo's  horn,  and 
others  of  the  most  fantastic  appearance,  such  as  a 
pair  of  boots  and  a  pair  of  sandals !    One  great 


TARQUINIA 


195 


value  which  vases  and  tazze  have  to  an  antiquarian, 
is,  that  they  supply  an  important  desideratum  to 
our   acquaintance    with    the   early   inhabitants    of 
Greece   and  Italy,  as  they  give  us  an  infinity  of 
domestic  details,  and  pictures  of  ordinary  life,  of 
which  we  must  otherwise  have  continued  in  igno- 
rance ;  while  others  open  up  a  nobler  range  of  my- 
thological  knowledge   and    heroic    tradition,    and 
place  before  us  gods,  demi-gods,  and  heroes,  in  the 
conventional  forms,  dresses,  attitudes,  and  accom- 
paniments which  were  conceived  and  executed  by 
the  ancients   themselves,  and  are   therefore  to  be 
relied  on  for  correct  classical  propriety.     Many  of 
the  shapes  represented  on  this  tazza,  and  particu- 
larly the  boots,  we  have  since  seen  in  various  mu- 
seums.    They  are  all  drinking  vessels,  made  of  terra 
cotta,  usually   unpainted,    but    they    are    genuine 
Etruscan,  though  many  similar  ones  in  shape,  use, 
and  material,  are  found  in  Egypt. 

There  remained  yet  two  of  the  tombs  of  this  im- 
mense necropolis  to  be  explored,  and  we  found  them 
to  differ  essentially  from  all  the  rest,  and  to  possess 
some  common  resemblance,  though  varying  widely 
in  style.     The  first  that  I  will  mention  is  the 

GROTTA    DEL    CARDII^ALE, 

which,  of  all  the  tombs  now  shown,  was  discovered 
the  earliest,  and  derives  its  name  from  a  cardinal 
who  many  years  ago  interested  himself  in  its  pre- 
servation. His  name.  Cardinal  Garampi,  Bishop  of 
Corneto  and  Monte  Fiascone,  we  could  not  learn  at 

K  2 


V 


196 


TARQUINIA. 


the  place  itself,  strange  to  say,  but  I  have  since 
found  it  in  Tirabo«chi's  "  storia  della  Litteratura 
Italiana,"  together  with  his  letter,  giving  the  his- 
torian a  description  of  the  grotta  when  he  first 
visited  it  in  May  1786.  The  miserable  neglect  in 
which  this  interesting  monument  of  antiquity  is 
now  left,  shows  that  none  of  the  present  members  of 
the  sacred  college  know  or  care  about  it :  and  the 
decay  into  which  all  the  Tarquinian  tombs  are 
rapidly  falling,  makes  us  wish  to  see  some  influen- 
tial person  appointed  by  the  government  to  under- 
take the  task  of  saving  them  from  utter  destruction. 
I  could  not  help  wishing  that  the  cardinal  or  bishop 
of  Corneto  were  charged  with  the  preservation  of 
them  as  part  of  the  duties  of  his  see. 

We  descended  a  flight  of  steps,  and  advanced  by 
a  short  passage  cut  in  the  rock  to  the  entrance  of 
the  tomb,  a  spacious  chamber  in  which  our  flam- 
beaux only  made  darkness  more  visible.  1  should 
think  it  about  forty  feet  square,  and  the  roof, 
wJiieh  is  low,  is  supported  on  four  very  massive 
square  pillars,  which  rise  without  base  from  the 
ground,  and  is  ornamented  with  that  peculiar  sort  of 
decoration  of  which  the  best  specimen  is  to  be  found 
in  the  roof  of  the  Pantheon  at  Rome,  i.  e.  a  square 
medallion,  with  foliage  in  the  centre.  This  does 
not  cover  the  entire  roof  of  the  grotto,  which  appears 
never  to  have  been  finished  ;  some  parts  of  it  being 
without  any  ornament,  and  also  some  portions  of  the 
sides  having  been  rudely  cut  out  of  the  living  rock, 
and  not  having  yet  received  the  preparation  of  sand 


\ 


\ 


V 


\ 


• 


Tp' 


V 


TARQUINIA. 


197 


on  which  the  paintings  are  elsewhere  sketched      I 
say  sketched,  for  this  is  the  proper  term  respecting 
them,  as  they  differ  essentially  from   the  coloured 
and    more   finished  drawings  of  the  other  tombs. 
J  he  style,  moreover,  is  light  and  free,  rather  be- 
tokenmg  the  meridian  or  the  decline  of  art  than  its 
rise.      This  circumstance,  together  with  the  unfi- 
nished state  of  the  tomb,  and  the  ornaments  which 
appear  on  the  roof,  would  incline  me  to  assign  it  a 
place  among  the  later  tombs  of  Etruria,  that  is  to 
say,  not  earlier  than  the  last  of  the  Roman  kin<^s 
But  during  the  seventy  years  which  have  elaps°ed 
since  It  was  opened,  so  much  has  been  done  to  deface 
and  spoil  it,  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  form  an  accu- 
rate opinion.     The  square  pillars  that  support  the 
roof  are  very  rude,  without  base,  and  with  a  sort  of 
fillet  round  the  top,  beneath  which  are  painted  leaves 
in  three  colours,  red,  blue,  and  yellow.  No  sarcophagi 
remain  in  this  tomb,  but  it  was  doubtless  originally 
full  of  them,  there  being  a  broad  stone  led"e  all 
round  on   which   they    were  placed,  and  in  "some 
parts  two  rows  of  such  ledges,  one  above  the  other. 
Nothwithstanding  the  doubt  which  I  have  expressed 
as  to  the  very  remote  antiquity  of  this  tomb,  it  is 
interesting  to  see  that  the  beautiful  ornament  I  have 
described  on  the  roof,  and  which  was  not  introduced 
into   Rome  until  the  very  end  of  the  republic,  was 
known  and  used  in  Etruria  at  least  several  centuries 
earlier.    A  part  of  the  roof  is  formed  in  a  different 
style,  with  broad  stone  beams  cut  across,  which  is 
probably  more  ancient,  and  resembles  the  older  se- 
pulchres of  Tarquinia  and  Vulci.     The  probability 


198 


TARQUINIA. 


is,  that  this  tomb  was  the  work  of  different  ages, 
enlarged  and  adorned  according  to  the  use  that  was 
made  of  it  during  successive  generations,  and  that 
it  was  still  unfinished  at  the  destruction  of  Tarquinia, 
when  the  family  to  which  it  had  belonged  became 
extinct.  It  was  then  abandoned,  forgotten,  and 
filled  up  for  nineteen  centuries,  until  opened  by  the 
cardinal,  who  gave  it  its  name,  and  then,  after  his 
death,  it  was  again  left  to  the  destruction  of  rude 
shepherds  and  idle  boys,  or  of  barbarous  and  un- 
thinking foreigners.  The  wall  on  the  right  side  of 
the  entrance  alone  retains  any  trace  of  paintings, 
and  these  are  rapidly  fading.  They  consist  of  friezes 
of  figures  drawn  in  a  very  spirited  manner,  but 
small,  perhaps  afoot  high,  and  sketchy,  not  shaded, 
and  the  colours  scarcely  distinguishable.  There  is 
one  figure  which,  if  it  had  been  drawn  in  our  day, 
might  have  passed  for  the  Pope.  He  is  robed  in 
white,  with  a  conical-shaped  white  tiara  on  his  head, 
and  from  a  seat  of  state  he  seems  to  be  with  one 
hand  giving  his  blessing. 

Another  most  remarkable  frieze  consists  of  a  pro- 
cession of  souls  to  judgment ;  and  among  these  one 
group  in  particular  attracted  our  attention.  It  re- 
presents the  soul  of  a  person  who  had  in  life  been 
of  doubtful  character,  much  both  of  good  and  evil 
being  attributed  to  him ;  and  in  his  case  the  nicely 
balanced  scales  of  justice  tremble.  He  is  dragged 
in  a  car  before  the  judge  by  two  winged  genii,  the 
one  good  and  the  other  evil,  who  are  contending  for 
the  exclusive  possession  of  him.      In  the  eagerness 


\ 

\ 

v 

\ 
\ 

\ 


\ 


V 

\ 


s 


V 
< 


v^ 


■  V 


^. 


:?^ 


X 


V 

\ 

\ 


V 

V 


TARQUINIA. 


199 


of  dispute  the  car  stops,  they  cannot  draw  it  on,  but 
remain  stationary  to  mark  the  uncertain  reputation 
of  the  deceased.  The  evil  genii  are  represented  as 
black,  and  all  the  spirits  wear  a  cothurnus,  or  buskin 
of  that  form,  which  was  sacred  amongst  the  Etrus- 
cans to  immaterial  existences,  especially  the  genii  of 
darkness,  death,  and  sleep.  It  is  not  winged,  but 
peaked  like  wings  in  a  sheath,  and  reaches  midway 
up  the  leg.  The  genii  are  all  winged  ;  and  the 
souls,  of  which  there  are  many,  have  no  wings.  Only 
two  are  represented  in  the  plate,  because  only  a 
small  part  of  the  subject  is  given  ;  but  in  the  tomb 
there  was  a  long  procession,  each  bearing  some  in- 
strument as  a  symbol  of  his  profession.  Only  a 
small  part  remains,  travellers  having  thought  proper 
to  break  off  and  carry  away  the  stucco,  and,  no 
doubt,  what  we  saw  will  soon  follow.  It  was  the 
idea  of  the  Etruscans  that  the  soul  preserved  after 
death  the  likeness  of  the  body  it  had  left,  but  that  it 
was  composed  of  thin  elastic  air,  and  clothed  in  airy 
white.  The  good  genius  wishes  to  proceed,  with  the 
two  souls  represented,  to  the  gate  of  happiness  ;  but 
the  evil  genii  who  claim  them  seem  more  in  number, 
and  the  one  who  stops  the  car  wishes  to  turn  it  into 
the  gate  of  misery,  by  which  an  evil  genius  is  already 
sitting  and  waiting  for  its  return.  The  difference  of 
representation  between  this  and  the  "  Tifone,"  to 
which  we  afterwards  proceeded,  is  very  remarkable ; 
for  here  the  evil  genii  were  not  frightful,  though 
black,  bore  no  serpents,  and  their  hammers  were  of 
a  different  form  from  the  usual  hammers  of  death. 


'i 


200 


TARQUINIA. 


This  allegorical  drawing  forcibly  reminded  us  of  the 
miserable  state  of  those  who  have  to  look  forward  to 
a  strict  and  impartial  justice,  accurately  dealing  its 
rewards  or  ^  unishments,  according  to  their  merit 
or  demerit.  Alas  !  if  thus  weighed  in  the  balance, 
should  not  we  all  be  found  wanting?  A  visit  to  the 
tombs  of  heathenism  brings  home  to  us,  with  pecu- 
liar force,  the  consolations  of  Christianity.* 

Micali,  who  visited  this  extraordinary  tomb  in 
1808,  gives  a  much  fuller  account  of  it  than  I  have 
done,  because  it  was  then  much  more  perfect,  and 
he  says  that  he  was  grieved  and  astonished  to  see 
the  ravages  which  damp  and  barbarous  strangers 
had  made  when  he  returned  to  visit  it  in  1830. 
When  he  first  saw  it,  the  upper  part  was  surrounded 
by  indented  coloured  lines  representing  a  cornice. 
This  we  also  saw.  He  says  that  all  the  painting  was 


*  This  contrast  struck  me  forcibly,  when,  after  returning  from  Tar- 
quinia,  I  entered  the  first  gallery  of  the  Vatican,  of  which  one  side  is 
encrusted  with  early  christian  epitaphs,  taken  from  the  Roman  cata- 
combs.    Here  every  word  and  figure  pointed  to  a  sure  and  better  hope  ; 


the  IN   PACE    the 


Z 


or   PRO    CHRISTO,  the  good   shep- 


herd, the  dove  with  an  olive  branch,  the  word  ix^vs.  No  spot  can  be 
more  interesting  to  the  christian  traveller  than  the  catacombs  them- 
selves. They  are  now,  as  all  know,  the  burying  places  of  the  first 
Roman  Christians,  but  they  were  made  by  the  Etruscans  seven  hundred 
years  B.  C.  to  carry  on  their  great  works  in  early  Rome,  and  conti- 
nued through  a  long  succession  of  ages  to  be  the  quarries  out  of  which 
the  city  was  formed.  The  fish  was  a  hieroglyph  of  the  early  Christian, 
because  its  name  in  Greek,  Icthus,  gave  the  initials  J.  Jesus,  C. 
Christ,  Th.  Theou,  of  God,  U.  uios.  Son,  S.  Soter,  Saviour. 


TARQUINIA. 


201 


on  a  thick  coating  of  stucco,  and  that  the  frieze  or 
band  alreadv  alluded  to  contained  more  than  a 
hundred  figures,  giving  the  whole  history  of  an  un- 
judged  soul  after  death.  The  procession  began  with 
the  good  genii,  who  were  white,  and  who  were  said 
to  have  been  the  guardian  angels  of  the  person 
during  life.  They  carry  in  their  hands  a  thin  stick 
or  wand  of  office ;  then  come  the  souls,  and  the  evil 
genii  follow — i.  e.  those  who  accuse  the  soul  before 
the  judge;  and  in  this  grotto  they  were  all  black, 
carrying  great  hammers  with  which  to  beat  and 
bruise  those  who  were  delivered  over  into  their 
power.  They  are  all  dressed  in  a  particular  manner, 
the  garment  being  braced  with  a  girdle,  and  not 
reaching  lower  than  the  knee.  The  souls  were  all 
clothed  in  white,  and  were  supposed  to  preserve 
the  image  and  likeness  which  they  wore  in  the 
body,  only  to  be  thin  and  shining.  They  are  so  far 
all  alike,  and  all  subject  to  the  same  law  of  being 
judged  according  to  the  deeds  done  in  the  flesh, 
that  the  person  raised  upon  a  car  was  looking  for 
sentence  upon  the  very  same  principles  with  the 
work-people,  who  walked  with  spade  and  pitchfork 
before  or  after.  The  slave  and  the  lord,  the  freeman 
and  his  former  master,  were  all  on  a  level  there. 
The  rider  in  a  chariot  had  no  privilege  beyond 
the  walker,  and  was  the  only  one  stopped.  This 
painting  had  eight  doors,  each  supposed  to  lead 
into  a  different  division  of  Hades :  the  first  into 
either  darkness  or  fire,  and  the  last  into  life  ever- 
lasting,  and  in  the  doorway  of  some  of  them  stood 

K  5 


202 


TARQUINIA. 


genii  with  torches,  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  the  souls. 
This  mythology  of  the  different  degrees  of  purifi- 
cation  or   punishment   was   Egyptian,   or  at   least 
resembles  most  closely  what  is  found  delineated  and 
described  in  the  Egyptian  funereal  papyri.     I   saw 
a  complete  representation  of  this  subject  on   a  very 
old  papyrus  in  the  Dodvvell  Museum,  and   it  leads 
one  to   ask,   with  no    small  interest,   whence    the 
heathen    derived   so  much  light,  mingled    with  so 
much  darkness?     It  was  doubtless  a  glimmering  of 
primeval    truth   handed    down   through  much    and 
increasing  obscurity    by  patriarchal  tradition,  and 
receiving,  it  may  be,  a  more  correct  shape  from  time 
to  time  by  intercourse  with  those  who  were  more 
deeply    imbued    with    right    notions    on    religion. 
Thus  Abraham  may  have  recalled  Pharaoh  and  his 
subjects   to  a  knowledge  which  they  were  forget- 
ting, and  the  influence  of  Job  may  have  for  a  time 
restrained  the  idolatry  of  Arabia.     The  Scripture 
tells  us,  and  all  history  assures  us,  that  the  existence 
of  another  state  was  known  to  man  from  the  be- 
ginning.     The    Egyptian,    Arabian,     Phoenician, 
Etruscan,  and  early  Greek  theology,  all   were    de- 
rived at  first  from  the  same  source,  and  became  cor- 
rupted each  in  its  own  manner,  according  to  the 
genius  and  moral  force  of  its  own  nation. 

When  standing  in  these  tombs,  and  looking  upon 
such  a  scene  of  the  world  to  come,  as  we  were  then 
spelling  by  torch-light  from  the  walls,  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  help  wondering  at  and  admiring  the  quantity 
of  truth  and  knowledge  that  remained  amongst  this 


^ 


K 


>v 


•^ 


N 


TARQUINIA. 


203 


ancient  nation,  particularly  when  we  remember  the 
state  of  God's  own  people,  who,  though  they  never, 
down  to  the  Christian  era,  had  a  cessation  amongst 
them  of  visible  communion  with  the  world  above, 
through  prophets  and  miracles,  yet  in  our  Saviour's 
time  had  many  of  them  become  so  degenerate,  as  to 
doubt  and  dispute  "  if  there  were  angel  or  spirit." 
Truly  such  men,  like  natural  brute  beasts,  to  whom 
they  level  themselves,  are  made,  as  the  Scripture  says, 
to  be  taken  and  destroyed.  I  will  defy  any  one  not  to 
entertain  some  of  these  feelings  in  the  grottos  of  the 
Cardinale  and  the  Tifone. 

Above  one  of  the  walls  Micali  saw  many  epitaphs 
in   black  letters,   of  which  he    made   out    Velcia, 

Felce  or  Felchial,  30>I38:  VAI0V38:  the 
family  or  order  to  which  the  tomb  had  belonged,  but 
we  could  scarcely  decipher  them.  On  the  upper 
part  of  the  pillars,  just  beneath  the  leaves,  are  still 
visible  combatsof  gladiators.  The  figures  are  small, 
but  done  with  great  spirit,  and  in  various  positions 
of  victor  and  vanquished,  defender  and  defended. 
The  same  subject  is  found  represented  in  the  same 
manner  upon  a  frieze  in  the  temple  of  Phygaleia.  I 
did  see  them,  but  I  could  not  have  done  so,  had  not 
Avolta  positively  traced  some  of  the  formswith  hisfin- 
ger,  so  anxious  was  he  that  we  should  make  them  out. 
Some  of  them  are  on  a  black  ground,  and  they  bear 
the  short  sword,  like  what  we  have  seen  extracted, 
in  excellent  preservation,  from  the  tombs  of  Vulci, 
and  ornamented  with  gold.  It  is  like  a  large  two- 
edged  dagger. 


204 


TARQUINIA. 


I  regret  to  say  that  the  Grotta  del  Cardinale  has 
no  door,  and  no  care  whatever  has  been  taken  of* 
it.  Probably  after  the  death  of  its  original  protec- 
tor, it  was  long  ago  so  much  spoiled  as  to  deprive 
Avolta  of  the  heart  even  to  attempt  its  preserva- 
tion. As  there  is  no  guard  at  the  entrance,  the  in- 
terior is  filled  with  filth  and  rubbish,  while  the  walls 
are  scratched  over  with  charcoal;  and  the  curious 
and  minute  friezes  of  figures  are  almost  defaced.  It 
is  grievous  to  see  this  in  Italy,  and  it  always  ap- 
peared to  me  quite  irreconcilable  with  the  innate 
love  its  peasantry  in  general  have  of  works  of  art, 
and  their  exquisite  appreciation  of  the  appropriate 
and  the  beautiful  in  all  styles.  I  was  even  surprised 
when  the  love  of  gold  overcame  this  sense;  and  I 
still  think  that  where  we  saw  things  destroyed  from 
the  love  of  mischief,  it  must  have  been  the  work  of 
strangers.  It  was  positively  edifying  to  see  poor 
Agapeto's  despair  when  he  found  the  fine  painting 
on  the  side  of  this  tomb  scratched  over  with  char- 
coal, the  late  work  of  a  Russian  artist,  who,  to  the 
credit  of  his  country,  had  been  sent  hither  to  copy  it. 
lie  need  not  have  left  behind  him  so  barbarous 
a  memorial  of  himself.  I  was  consoled,  and  so  was 
Agapeto,  when  Avolta,  though  nearly  equally  vexed, 
announced  that  it  could  be  cleaned  away,  and  should 
be  done.  I  almost  think  he  said  something  of  plac- 
ing a  door  even  yet  at  the  entrance,  and  not  allow- 
ing foreigners  to  remain  there  alone,  and  I  hope  I 
am  right ;  for  obliterating  or  defacing  such  paint- 
ings is  surely  depriving  the  public  of  historical 
monuments  which  are  of  inestimable  worth. 


I 

I 

i 


TARQUINIA 


205 


y 


I 


•i( 


f^i 


't 


\ 


It  appears  unaccountably  strange  that  these  tombs 
should  be  so  neglected  under  the  rule  of  a  prince 
who  has  founded  the  Gregorian  Museum,  yet  true 
it  is,  that  for  the  degree  of  preservation  in  which 
any  of  them  remain,  we  are  indebted  to  Carlo 
Vvolta,  who  has  done  as  much  as  any  private  indivi- 
dual could  do  to  that  end,  by  furnishing  them  with 
locked  doors,  and  setting  over  them  a  custode. 
Agapeto  was  the  name  of  the  man  who  conducted  us, 
I  most  civil  obliging  contadino,  with  much  native 
wit  and  observation,  and  a  very  considerable  know- 
ledge of  antiquity.  We  found  him  far  superior  to 
the  guides  at  Chiusi,  whom  I  shall  hereafter  men- 
tion, and  it  is  a  great  advantage  to  strangers  to  meet 
with  such  a  man.  Guides  to  ancient  ruins  or  re- 
mains ought  always  to  be  appointed  by  authority, 
and  to  receive  a  sort  of  education  for  their  post. 
In  many  instances  this  has  been  done  around  Bome; 
especially  at  Tivoli  and  Adrian's  Villa,  and  I  know 
nothing  which  adds  so  much  to  the  pleasure  of  the 
expedition,  or  the  interest  of  the  spot. 

It  may  be  interesting  here  to  insert  the  Cardinal 
Garampi's  letter  to  Tiraboschi,  giving  an  account  of 
this  tomb  as  it  appeared  upon  its  first  discovery  un- 
der his  auspices.  After  saying  that  a  great  number 
of  Etruscan  tombs,  with  paintings  and  inscriptions, 
had  either  been  filled  up  or  destroyed,  he  adds, 

"  One  of  these,  about  a  mile  from  Corneto,  has 
been  re-opened  and  partially  cleared  of  the  rubbish 
and  earth  which  covered  it.  It  is  a  chamber 
seventy-two  Roman  pal  mi  square,  and  nine  palmi 


206 


TARQUINIA. 


high,  all  hewn  out  of  the  rock.  The  roof  is  not 
vaulted  but  flat,  and  to  support  it  four  large  pillars 
have  been  left  in  the  rock,  each  nine  palmi  square. 
This  flat  roof  is  divided  into  regular  compartments, 
sometimes  by  long  lines,  and  sometimes  by  deep 
squares  cut  upwards  and  ornamented,  the  colouring 
in  some  of  which  may  still  be  seen. 

"  All  round  the  grotta  near  the  roof,  wherever 
the  coating  of  lime  which  has  been  laid  upon  the 
stone  remains,  may  be  seen  a  border  of  indented 
lines  in  white,  representing  a  cornice.  Beneath 
this  comes  an  architrave  or  band,  ten  inches  high, 
upon  which  are  painted  games  and  processions  of 
winged  genii,  many  of  whom  carry  axes  or  hatchets, 
raised  aloft  like  great  hammers.  Here  and  there 
are  bigas,  with  sometimes  figures  in  them,  and  in  one 
of  them  is  an  urn  of  an  oval  shape  like  an  ossuario, 
or  urn  containing  ashes. 

"  In  another  part  there  is  a  boat,  and  considering 
the  whole,  it  appears  to  me  that  we  may  see  in  it 
some  allegory  relating  to  the  state  of  souls  when 
separated  from  the  body. 

"  In  some  places  the  colouring  is  still  visible,  and 
the  red,  yellow,  and  green,  are  better  preserved 
than  the  other  colours,  but  generally  the  figures  are 
dark  or  shaded,  but  so  that  the  outlines  and  the 
drapery  are  well  distinguished."     ' 

GROTTA    DFL    TIFOKE,    OPENED    BY    CAV.    MANZI 

IN    1833. 

The  last  Tarquinian  tomb  that  we  visited  was  the 


P  207 


.     ^  ^/y^^/y^y^yJ^/'^^/y 


/.^^^ 


\ 


/ 


TARQUINIA. 


207 


I 

P 
I 


1 


I 


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T^y^JLiZ/n^    f/^f//  u  ^  f/vf///fr/r  Sr/r/ftl/rr/s   -^/-/"/^//y/////   A'  f//r  A'/// 


©        V 


© 
© 
© 


f^'- 


f/fll 


© 

© 
© 


©   ©   © 


M 


7yp//y'//  '■/     ///rff/  cr  Jjf(////  //s  rr//rrsr//ff// ///  f/n V^/z/r/t/ /'f//yfr 


"  Grotta  del  Tifone,^'  so  called  from  the  painting 
of  Typhon  which  adorns  the  square  central  pillar. 
It  is,  like  all  the  others,  a  chamber  excavated  in  the 
tufo  rock,  and  is  larger  than  any  except  the  "  Grotta 
del  Cardinale,"  being  eighteen  paces  in  length,  and 
sixteen  in  breadth.  The  roof  is  supported  on  one 
solid  square  pillar,  and  all  around  the  chamber 
there  are  three  rows  of  stone  seats  or  ledges,  rising 
one  above  another  in  the  form  of  steps,  on  which 
are  deposited  a  number  of  stone  sarcophagi.  Eight 
of  these  now  remain,  having  recumbent  figures  on 
the  lid,  of  which  two  are  whole  and  six  broken,  and 
eight  have  been  removed.  In  one  place  there  is  an 
excavation  made  further  into  the  rock,  for  the  recep- 
tion of  another  body— so  full  had  the  tomb  once 
been,  that  even  three  ledges  did  not  suffice  for  all 
its  tenants.  Before  entering  the  tomb,  I  was  so 
much  startled  as  to  shrink  back ;  for  the  moment 
the  door  M'as  opened,  the  stern,  dignified,  and 
colossal  visage  of  an  Etruscan  chief  stared  me  in 
the  face.  He  looked  as  if  he  had  just  raised  his 
head  from  the  placid,  majestic  repose  in  which  he 
lay,  like  the  guardian  of  the  sepulchre,  and  I  could 
almost  fancy  he  frowned  on  us  as  unwelcome  in- 
truders on  his  last  resting  place.  To  me  he  seemed 
to  ask,  What  business  hast  thou  here  ?  The  dim 
twilight  favoured  the  illusion,  and  in  none  of  the 
other  tombs  did  we  so  completely  feel  ourselves 
strangers  come  to  pry  into  the  long-forgotten 
homes  of  the  mighty  dead.  Most  of  the  other 
sarcophagi    have    sculptured    likenesses    of    their 


•208 


TARQUINIA. 


TARQUINIA. 


209 


tenants  on  the  lid  ;  but  none  seemed  so  true  to 
nature,  or  so  majestic,  as  this  one.  Among  these 
departed  grandees,  we  discovered  tiie  dust  of  a  visitor 
v;ho  was  perhaps  more  an  intruder  than  ourselves^ 
—  a  Roman  amongst  the  lords  of  Tarquinia !  A 
curious  instance  of  the  victor  identifying  himself 
with  the  most  sacred,  exclusive,  and  private  things 
of  the  vanquished,  if  victor  indeed  he  were,  and 
we  busied  ourselves  with  framing  some  pretext  for 
this  violation  of  sepulchral  propriety.  Had  he  ob- 
tained a  grant  of  the  estates  belonging  to  the  family 
who  once  owned  this  vault;  or  was  he  not  much 
more  probably  of  the  same  kindred  with  them?  A 
Tarquinian  who  had  ruled  in  Rome,  and  there 
were  many  such,  and  who,  when  he  died,  chose  to 
have  a  Latin  epitaph.  Though  the  essence  of  his 
power  was  the  citizenship  of  Rome,  he  may  have 
felt,  like  Mecsenas,  not  the  less  proud,  that  his 
ancestors  commanded  mighty  legions,  and  that 
some  of  them  w^ere  once  powerful  kings  in  his 
native  Etruria.  Be  this  as  it  may,  there  he  was, 
a  Roman  amidst  Etruscans,  like  a  Norman  con- 
dottiere  invading  the  vaults  of  a  long  line  of 
Saxon  earls,  or  a  Moorish  chief  mingling  his  dust 
with  that  of  pure  grandees  of  the  seed  of  Pelayo. 
There  was  also  in  this  tomb  the  sarcophagus  of  a 
Roman  lady,  i.  e.  of  a  lady  whose  name  is  written 
m  Latin  characters,  of  the  5th  or  6th  century  of 
Rome,  with  her  effigy  on  the  lid,  in  the  same  style 
of  dress  and  position,  but  in  a  later  manner  of 
execution  than  most  of  the  others.     We  considered 


it  by  far  the  most  modern,  and  we  do  not  know 
that  it  stood  in  its  ancient  place,  because  it  has 
probably  been  moved  into  its  present  situation  for 
ornament,  and  is  out  of  its  own  peculiar  numerical 
place  amongst  these  lordly  generations.  I  do  not 
remember  the  name,  and,  at  the  time  I  saw  it,  I 
had  not  sufficient  knowledge  of  names  to  have  dis- 
cerned whether  she  were  an  Etruscan  married  to  a 
Roman,  or  whether  she  were  a  Roman  married  to  one 
of  the  Lucumones,  and  allowed  a  place  amongst  her 
husband's  kindred.  This  tomb,  if  it  did  not  belong 
to  one  great  family,  is  supposed,  as  well  as  the  Grotta 
del  Cardinale,  to  have  been  the  burying-place  appro- 
priated to  public  officers — a  little  Westminster 
Abbey  ;  but  what  corner  of  the  abbey  it  typified,  the 
want  of  all  its  accompanying  vases,  arms,  and  orna- 
ments, renders  us  unable  to  determine.'*  How  greatly 
we  lamented  that  it  had  not  been  publicly  protected! 
The  mere  showing  of  these  two  grottos  unscathed 
would,  I  am  sure,  have  made  Corneto  by  this  time  a 
place  of  general  resort,  and  would  have  brought  the 
community  in  the  long-run  as  much,  or  much  more, 
money  than  the  sale  of  all  their  contents  has  ever 
done.  The  square  pillar  in  the  centre  is  very 
massive,  and  lessens  towards  the  top,  which  is  sur- 
mounted by  a  fillet.  Just  beneath  the  fillet  there 
is  a  large  stone  ledge  or  table,  which  I  took  for  a 
sacrificial  altar  :  it  adds  wonderfully  to  the  solemn 
efiect  of  the  tomb.  The  Typhon  which  appears  on 
the  other  three  sides,  seems  to  be  the  good,  and  not 
the  bad  angel  of  death  ;  and  he  must  have  some 

*  See  Appendix  E. 


210 


TAKQUINIA. 


Etruscan  history  as  yet  unknown  to  me.  He  is  not 
the  evil  genius  called  Typhon  by  the  Egyptians,  for 
he  has  nothing  about  him  either  of  the  wolf  or  the 
crocodile ;  neither  is  he  the  Typhon  of  the  Greeks, 
but  a  winged  genius  above,  and  serpents  below,  the 
heads  of  which  express  time,  and  the  tails  eternity. 
They,  like  human  life,  have  a  beginning,  but  no 
end  ;  and  are  merged  in  an  undying  and  intellectual 
spirit.  This  w^as  a  favourite  method  of  represen- 
tation anong  the  Etruscans.  It  is  to  be  seen  upon 
many  of  the  sarcophagi  at  Chiusi,  and  upon  a  beau- 
tiful scarabeus  of  cornelian,  which  we  purchased, 
engraved  in  the  best  style  of  art.  It  was  truly  an 
awful  thing  to  look  upon  the  altar  and  the  Genius, 
and  the  cold,  calm,  stern  effigies,  and  coffins  around 
— Homan  and  Etruscan  mingled  together. 

But  a  still  greater  anomaly,  of  a  different  descrip- 
tion, soon  diverted  our  attention  from  the  dead 
to  those  who  seemed  living  on  the  walls,  such  was 
the  freedom  and  grace  with  which  they  were  de- 
picted. Our  eyes  were  rivetted  on  an  extraordinary 
miniature  procession  w^hich  occupied  a  small  portion 
of  the  wall  to  the  right  of  the  entrance.  A  drawing 
of  it  accompanies  this  description,  but  neither  the 
one  nor  the  other  can  give  an  adequate  idea  of  the 
beauty  and  nature  of  the  original.  It  is  miserably 
injured,  and  will  very  soon  be  totally  obliterated, 
if  I  may  judge  of  the  progress  of  future  decay  from 
the  past;  for  the  drawing  w^as  made  a  couple  of 
years  before  our  visit,  and  not  much  more  than 
half  now   remains  of  that  which  is  therein   repre- 


^ 


\- 


N 


5: 


\ 


\ 

■^. 


TARQUINIA. 


211 


sented.  It  is  a  procession  of  dead,  conducted  by 
genii  to  their  final  abode  of  good  or  evil.  The  band 
is  preceded  by  a  good  genius,  as  may  be  discovered 
from  the  serpents  of  eternity,  which  are  twined  round 
his  head,  and  from  the  pleasing  exprassion  of  his 
countenance.  He  bears  a  lighted  torch.  He  is 
followed  by  a  number  of  souls,  and  among  them, 
two,  a  man  and  a  woman,  are  distinguished  for 
uncommon  beauty,  a  beauty  which  is  but  little 
discernible  in  the  annexed  drawing.^  These,  in  the 
original,  are  evidently  the  principal  figures  in  the 
group.  This  very  handsome  and  noble  looking 
youth  is  immediately  followed  by  a  monstrous  fiend, 
in  whom  we  recognise  the  most  frightful  develope- 
ment  of  the  evil  genius  of  Etruria,  whose  face  and 
figure  had  been  already  familiar  to  us  in  scarabei 
and  vases.  The  eternal  serpents  encircled  his 
head,  and  his  face  had  the  most  frightful  negro 
exaggeration,  with  a  brutish  expression.  One 
enormous  claw  was  pouncing  upon  the  shoulder  of 
the  unfortunate  youth,  while  the  hammer,  the 
Etruscan  badge  of  the  angel  of  death,  was  raised 
aloft  in  the  other.  Behind  him  was  the  figure, 
lamentably  defaced,  of  a  female  of  surpassing 
loveliness,  and  in  her  beautiful  brow  and  eye 
the  most  intense  anguish  was  depicted.  I  shall 
never  forget  her  expression  of  unutterable  woe. 
To  her  was  attached  an  infernal  guard,  similar  to 
him  who  had  pounced  upon  the  youth,  his  brows 
encircled  with  the  same  serpentine   fillet,  and  his 

*  Vide  Frontispiece. 


212 


TARQUINIA. 


features   and    expression    exaggerated    negro    and 
brutish,  only  of  a  dark  brown  colour  instead  of  a 
deep  black.     The  art  of  the  painter  had  invested 
these  figures  with  the  marks  of  individuality ;  they 
must   have   been    portraits;    but   whom    did    they 
represent,  and  why  were    they  thus   represented  ? 
What   had    they    done,   and  why    were    they   thus 
sino-led  out,  to  be  handed  down  for  two-and-twenty 
ages  as  the  prey  of  demons,  and  branded   with  the 
mark  of  reprobation  ?     I  stood  gazing  on  this  group 
with    the    most    intense    interest,   and    could    have 
worked  out  a  romance  upon  the  lives  of  these  un- 
fortunate   Etruscans.      A   story,  and    a    romantic 
and  a  melancholy  one,  they  must  have  had.     They 
must  have  been  selected  to  point  a  moral  to  the 
succeeding   generations    of    some   great   Etruscan 
house.     I    could    almost  have  fancied   that  Dante 
must  have  stolen  into  this  tomb,  and  studied    its 
group,  before  he  so  touchingly  described  his  meeting 
with  Paolo  and  Francesca  da  Rimini  in  the  Inferno. 
While  I  gazed    on  those   interesting   figures,  and 
wished    to    inquire  into   the   story  of  their  woe,  I 
almost    expected    to    have    heard   these    plaintive 
accents : — 


"  Nessun  maggoir  dolore 
Che  ricurdarsi  del  tempo  felice 
Nella  miseria. 

Ma  se  conoscer  la  prima  radice 
Del  nostri  amor,  tu  hai  cotanto  affetto, 
Faro  come  colui  che  piange  e  dice 


>> 


Canto  5. 


TARQUINIA.  213 

'•  No  greater  grief  than  to  remember  days 
Of  joy  when  mis'ry  is  at  hand. 

Yet  so  eagerly 
If  thou  art  bent  to  know  the  primal  root, 
From  whence  our  love  got  being,  I  will  do 
As  one  who  weeps  and  tells  his  tale." 

The  height  of  the  figures  is  not  above  twelve 
inches.  The  style  of  art  in  which  they  are  executed 
is  not  Etruscan  ;  it  resembles  ratlier  some  of  the 
best  specimens  of  the  earlier  times  of  the  empire 
such  as  are  to  be  seen  among  the  frescos  of  Pompeii. 
The  eyes  of  the  Tarquinian  Francesca,  in  particular, 
reminded  me  of  those  of  the  celebrated  Achilles, 
or  of  the  Juno,  which  are  preserved  in  the  Museo 
Borbonico.  But,  on  looking  up,  I  saw  a  standard 
raised  in  the  midst  of  the  procession,  inscribed 
with  Etruscan  letters ;  and  this  decided  the  point 
of  its  nationality,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  of  its 
antiquity.  The  letters  are  accurately  copied  in  the 
annexed  drawing,  and  when  the  knowledge  of  thino-s 
ancient  comes  in  a  suflicient  stream  to  enable  us  to 
decipher  tliis  dead  language  of  an  extinct  people, 
then,  and  not  until  then,  will  the  fate  of  Paolo  and 
Francesca  be  unveiled.  But  then  even  their  effi- 
gies w^ill  have  been  effiiced,  and  no  further  interest 
can  be  felt  in  their  weal  or  woe,  innocence  or  guilt. 
Another  peculiarity  of  the  paintings  of  this  chamber 
is,  that  they  are  done  in  fresco,  not,  as  in  the  other 
tombs,  on  a  preparation  of  sand.  This,  together 
with  the  more  Grecian  or  Roman  style  of  art 
denotes,  in  my  opinion,  a  vvork  of  later  Etruria;  but 
Etruscan  it  is,  with  the  utmost  certainty,  both  from 


^ . 


214 


TARQUINIA. 


the  inscription  and  from  the  number  of  sarcophagi, 
those  of  the  Romans  being  interlopers  of  after  times. 
It  will  be  impossible  to  visit  with  any  degree  of 
satisfaction  the  Tarquinian  necropolis  in  less  than 
two  days.  One  may  indeed  run  over  it  in  a  few 
hours,  but  such  a  mode  of  sight-seeing  will  not  repay 
the  trouble  of  a  journey  from  Rome.  I  must  warn 
all  those  who  have  no  knowledge  of  antiquity,  who 
cannot,  from  fragments  that  remain,  reproduce 
grandeur  that  has  perished,  and  who  are  not  in  the 
habit  of  inferring,  from  what  they  see,  a  great  many 
other  things  therewith  connected  which  are  invi- 
sible, not  to  expect  much  delight  from  a  journey  to 
Tarquinia,  which  will  be  to  them  an  exertion,  and 
lead  very  possibly  only  to  disappointment.  They 
will  see  nothing  but  walls  painted  with  colours,  not 
half  so  vivid  as  the  copies  preserved  in  the  Vatican, 
or  the  frescos  that  adorn  almost  every  Italian  house 
of  importance;  and  these  in  a  little  chamber  not 
much  larger  than  most  family  vaults  in  our  own 
country.  But  to  any  one  who  has  imagination  suffi- 
cient to  recall  and  reanimate  the  dust  from  the 
sepulchre,  to  behold  it  once  more  assume  the  forms 
and  the  features  which  have  become  familiar;  to 
observe  the  fashions  and  habits  of  three  thousand 
years  once  more  revived,  and  upon  the  rocky  ridge 
of  the  opposite  hill  to  descry  once  more  the  superb 
edifices  of  the  Etruscan  capital,  whilst  the  barren 
waste  of  the  necropolis  becomes  covered  with  towers 
and  tumuli,  funereal  effigies,  sphynxes,  and  chimeras 
of  alabaster  and  stone;  to  such  a  one,  and  there 


TARQUINIA. 


215 


^1 


are  many  such  among  English  travellers,  I  should 
say,  "  hasten  to  Tarquinia  ;"  hasten  and  delay  not. 
Wander  over  the  necropolis,  and  summon  the  fune- 
real pomp  of  one  of  her  proud  chiefs.     Open  the 
gates  of  the  city  of  the  dead,  and  behold  the  royal 
lucumo  deposited  in  his  painted  chamber,  clad  in 
the  trappings  of  his  rank,  and  surrounded  by  the 
objects  of  his  luxury.     Join  the  attending  throng, 
and  enjoy,  if  thou  canst,  the  funeral  baked  meats, 
and  drink  the  rich  libations  to  the  sound  of  the 
lyre  and  double  flute.     Then  hie  thee  across   the 
valley   to  the  city  again,  ascend  the  steps  of  the 
terraces  even  to  the  loftiest  temple,  and  there  be- 
hold the  inauguration  of  a  successor  in  rank  and 
office,  a  pomp  as  splendid  as  the  other  was  solemn. 
Mark  the  proud  array  of  the  lictors  with  their  for- 
midable fasces ;  behold  the  ivory  curule  chair,  and 
the  chief  who  sits  there  enthroned,  with  his  purple 
bordered  robe,  his  golden  garland,  and  eagle-headed 
sceptre.     Then  go  on  to  the  circus,  and  behold  the 
race-stands   crowded   with   the  rich,  the  gay,   the 
happy,  the  nobility  and  the  beauty  of  proud  Etru- 
ria ;  listen  to  the  joyous  yet  coarser  mirth  of  the 
people ;  attend  for  a  moment  to  the  horse  and  the 
chariot  and  the  foot  race,  the  boxing  match  and 
the  throwing  of  the  quoit,  for  thou  knewest  before 
how  they   all   were,  thou   hast   seen   them   faith- 
fully   depicted    around    the    walls    of   the   secret 
chambers   which    now    alone    contain    Tarquinia's 
records.     Such  are  the  pleasures  which  belong  to 
one  who  travels  with  some  knowledge  of  the  past, 


216 


TARQUINIA. 


and  sufficient  imagination  to  use  that  knowledge 
in  the  reproduction  of  beautiful  and  mighty  things 
long  departed  and  forgotten.  But  if  thou  wouldest 
turn  thy  visit  to  the  best  account,  meditate  for 
a  while  upon  the  destinies  of  thy  fellows,  men  like 
thyself,  who  once  formed  the  great  nation  whose 
ruins  thou  canst  now  with  pain  discover  ;  how  they 
lived  and  moved,  and  died  ;  how  their  glory  is 
vanished,  their  name,  the  very  name  of  their 
nation,  strikes  our  ear  as  the  echo  of  ages  unknown; 
and  then  think  of  thyself  and  thine  own  destiny. 
What  is  thy  life  ?  It  is  as  theirs  has  been,  a  vapour 
that  appeareth  for  a  little  while,  and  then  vanisheth 
away.  Think  well  of  these  things,  and  thou  wilt 
return  a  wiser  man  than  thou  camest. 

GROTTA    INTAGLIATA. 

Micali  mentions  anotlier  tomb  which  I  rejrret  to 
say  we  did  not  visit,  as  it  is  the  only  one  known  of 
its  kind,  and,  though  very  much  injured,  must  be  a 
most  wonderful  thing.  I  shall  call  it  ''  Grotta 
Intagliata,"  by  way  of  giving  it  a  local  name. 
It  is  square,  with  a  pyramidal  roof,  in  the  centre  of 
which  is  a  square  aperture,  terminating  in  a  cone. 
There  is  a  frieze  all  round  of  monsters,  and  of 
animals  fighting,  and  below  these  a  quantity  of 
figures  in  procession,  from  five  to  six  feet  high.  I 
suppose  they  are  men  and  genii,  but  the  subject 
can  no  longer  be  distinguished  or  discovered,  un- 
less some  record  of  it  may  have  found  a  place  in  the 
old  monk's  book.     This  tomb  is  not  painted,  but 


TARQUINIA. 


217 


1 


i 


all  the  figures  both  of  men  and  animals  are  sculp- 
tured out  of  the  rock. 

After  the  occupations  of  the  day,  our  evenings 
were  always  spent  in  the  company  of  the  Gonfalo- 
niere  Avolta,  whom  we  found  a  most  agreeable  and 
useful  instructor  in  all  that  related  to  the  antiquities 
of  his  country,  and  an  amiable  and  well-informed 
old    gentleman,   preserving    all   the   vivacity   and 
vigour  of  mind  of  youth,  together  with  a  stock  of 
health  and  strength  which  enabled  him,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-five,  to  enjoy  a  chasse  au  sanglier  more 
than   most    young    men.      From    the    enthusiasm 
which  he  displayed  for  Etruria  and  the  Etruscans, 
I  fancied  that  we  had  found  in  him  the  descendant 
of  some  ancient  lucumo,  and  I  was  rather  disap- 
pointed when  he  told  me  that  he  was  a  branch  of 
a   noble    family   in    Lombardy,   which    had    been 
settled  at   Corneto  scarcely   three   centuries.     His 
attention   had  been   early   directed   to   the    tombs 
by  a  manuscript  which  fell  into  his  hands,  written 
by   a   learned   but   poor   monk,   who   died  a  cen- 
tury   ago,  and  who  had  spent  the  greater  part  of 
his   life    in    examining    those    to    which    he    had 
access,  and  in  recording  their  wonders.     This  work, 
of  which  I  could  not  procure  a  sight,  still  exists,  and 
I  was  informed  that  it  contains  descriptions  of  some 
tombs  that  were  found  very  many  years  ago,  but 
have  long  been  forgotten,  and  w^ere  adorned  with 
many  curious   paintings   of  animals,   such  as  ele- 
phants, which  have  never  been  found  since.     He 
describes   the    grottos   of    the   Cardinale   and   the 


218 


TARQUINIA. 


) 


Tifone,  together  with  some  others  we  did  not  see, 
but  which  are  known,  and  his  descriptions  are  so 
exact  and  faithful,  that  Avolta  gives  him  the  fullest 
credit  for  unexaggerated  simple  truth  in  all  he  says 
of  such  as  are  unknown.  I  hope  some  of  my  coun- 
trymen will  see  this  book  and  translate  it. 

Avolta's  enthusiasm  had  soon  some  actual  food 
wherewith  to  regale  itself  in  discoveries  of  his  own. 
In  his  early  youth  an  ancient  warrior  had  been  found 
laid  out  in  state,  clad  in  the  trappings  of  his  dignity, 
and  from  time  to  time  discoveries  had  since  been 
made,  on  a  small  scale,  of  vases  and  ornaments  of 
gold  and  bronze ;  which  served  to  whet  desire 
for  things  of  more  value,  and  to  promise  greater 
rewards  to  a  systematic  search.  The  time  for  this 
at  length  came.  Lucien  Bonaparte  purchased  es- 
tates near  Vulci,  the  principalities  of  Canino  and 
Musignano ;  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  unveiled 
the  subterranean  treasures  of  his  new  acquisition. 
He  gave  the  impulse,  and  companies  were  formed 
in  Rome,  who,  for  the  sake  of  profit,  made  extensive 
excavations  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Corneto. 
Others  were  prompted  by  a  more  generous  passion 
for  antiquity ;  and  among  these  may  be  mentioned 
Baron  Stackelberg,  Chevalier  Kestner,  Lord  Kin- 
iiaird,  and  the  Gonfaloniere  Avolta.  The  latter  was 
soon  rewarded  for  his  expenditure  of  trouble  and 
money,  by  an  enjoyment  which  he  says  was  the 
most  exquisite  of  his  life, —  the  discovery  of  an 
Etruscan  monarch  with  his  crown  and  panoply, 
and  the  peep  which  he  was  permitted  to  have  of 


TARQUINIA. 


219 


the  grandeur  of  the  ancient  world  before  the  air  of 
the  nineteenth  century  had  dissolved  its  remnant. 
He  entirely  confirmed  the  account  which  I  had  re- 
ceived in  Rome  of  his  adventure  with  the  lucumo, 
on  whom  he  gazed  for  full  five  minutes  from  the 
aperture  above  the  door  of  his  sepulchre.  He  saw 
him  crowned  with  gold,  clothed  in  armour,  with  a 
shield,  spear,  and  arrows  by  his  side,  and  extended 
on  his  stone  bier.  But  a  change  soon  came  over 
the  figure,  it  trembled,  and  crumbled,  and  vanished 
away,  and  by  the  time  that  an  entrance  was  effected, 
all  that  remained  was  the  golden  crown  and  a  hand- 
ful of  dust,  with  some  fragments  of  the  arms.  Part 
of  these  became  the  property  of  Lord  Kinnaird. 
The  words  of  Signore  Avolta  require  no  confirma- 
tion to  ensure  my  entire  belief,  but  it  may  be  satis- 
factory to  my  readers  to  know  that  the  appearance 
which  he  saw  of  a  body  vanishing  is  not  a  thing 
unknown  elsewhere.  And  if  we  substitute  centuries 
for  thousands,  an  anecdote  which  I  lately  heard 
from  a  very  respectable  clergyman  is  a  case  in 
point.  He  is  rector  of  a  large  town  in  Stafford- 
shire, and  was  one  day  hurriedly  summoned  to  the 
parish  church  to  behold  the  body  of  one  of  his 
predecessors,  a  rector  who  had  died  nearly  three 
centuries  ago,  which  had  been  discovered  in  opening 
a  vault.  On  coming  to  the  spot,  he  saw  him  laid 
out,  with  his  face  in  perfect  preservation ;  but  be- 
fore half  an  hour  had  elapsed,  he  perceived  a  curious 
movement  in  the  face  and  figure,  like  that  of  sand 
running    through    a    sand-glass,    and   the    whole 

L  2 


220 


TARQUINIA. 


TARQUINIA. 


221 


r  It 


crumbled  into  dust.  The  same  happened  a  few 
years  ago  at  Dunblane  cathedral,  in  Scotland,  upon 
opening  the  grave  of  a  bishop,  who  died,  I  think, 
in  the  year  1400.     Many  witnessed  it. 

Micali  mentions  another  grave  which  was  opened 
at  Tarquinia  in  1823.  The  warrior  within  was  seen 
lying  on  a  bed  or  bier  in  full  armour ;  near  him 
were  two  spears,  some  javelins,  some  arrows,  and  a 
short  sword ;  also  two  large  round  bronze  shields, 
twelve  Roman  palmi  in  circumference,  with  a  rim 
on  which  rows  of  animals  and  little  figures  were 

stamped. 

I  believe  we  saw  all  that  are  shown,  and  perhaps 
all  that  are  sufficiently  cleared  to  be  entered,  ex- 
cepting two  large  caverns  beneath  Corneto,  and  the 
*'  Grotta  Intagliata."     Cardinal   Garampi,  writing 
in  A.  D.  1786,  says,  "  All  the  rocks  round  Corneto 
are  perforated  with  cavern  sepulchres,  the  greater 
part  of  which  have  perished  through  the  rudenessand 
carelessness  of  the  agriculturists,  except  a  very  few 
which  serve  as  shelter  for  cattle,  or  for  other  rustic 
uses.     Many  indeed  have  been  filled  up,  to  prevent 
their   becoming   a  refuge  for  vagrants.      Now  in 
many  of  these,  which  have  been  from  time  to  time 
discovered,  there  have  been  found  paintings,  and 
Etruscan  inscriptions,  and  fragments  of  vases  and 
statues,  and  other  antiquities  ;  but,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  few  inscriptions  not  inviting  to  remove, 
they  have  all  either  been  carried  away  or  destroyed. 
In  some  which  still  remain  only  half  filled  up,  I  am 
assured  that  there  are  paintings  and  Etruscan    in- 
scriptions." 


One  of  these,  and  one  only,  he  had  re-opened, 
the  "  Grotta  del  Cardinale,"  and  that  one  he  took 
no  pains  to  preserve.  I  thought  it  served  him 
right  that  his  name  should  be  forgotten  upon  the 
spot.  He  mentions  incidentally  another  tomb,  in 
which  six  heads  of  colossal  size  had  been  found, 
made  of  peperino  ;  also  a  torso,  a  hand,  part  of  a 
foot,  and  five  fragments  of  inscriptions  in  Etruscan 
characters,  written  from  right  to  left,  the  letters  be- 
ing four  inches  high,  cut  deep  in  the  stone,  and 
painted  in  red,  the  colour  still  being  quite  fresh. 
Alas  !  where  are  they  now  ?  In  the  grotta  itself 
he  saw  two  inscriptions,  the  one  in  green,  and  the 
other  in  red  upon  the  wall. 

Not  far  from  this  tomb  a  corpse  was  found  with 
bronze  armour  and  ornaments,  and  with  spots  or 
stripes  upon  his  garment  of  beaten  gold  in  a  zig- 
zag pattern,  of  which  the  cardinal  procured  a  frag- 
ment. We  heard  of  six  or  more  difi"erent  corpses 
which  had  been  found  in  this  manner,  within  the 
last  fifty  years,  at  Tarquinia. 

The  principal  family  names  which  have  been 
found  amongst  the  sepulchral  inscriptions  are, 
Velcia,  Vestrieii,  Urinate,  Festrinii,  Caesennii, 
Marce,  or  Marcius,  Matulne,  and  Sentinate.  This 
latter  tomb  was  opened  in  1830.  The  name  is 
written  \^  I  MlT  M  3  ^  ^^^  ^  branch  of  the  same 
family  is  found  amongst  the  magnates  of  Chiusi. 

I  must  now  throw  together  a  few  more  desul- 
tory remarks  and  recollections  of  these  tombs.  I 
have  mentioned  nine  which  we  distinctly  remem- 


222 


TARQUINIA. 


ber,  and  as  to  which  the  notes  and  memories 
of  the  wnole  party  agree.  The  Grotta  del  Tifone 
was  re-discovered  by  Cav.  Manzi,  if  I  am  right 
in  saying  that  it  was  also  known  to  the  poor 
monk  150  years  since,  and  stands  described  in 
his  manuscript.  The  Grotta  del  Barone  was  dis- 
covered by  Baron  Stackelberg ;  but  there  was  also 
one  called  "  Grotta  del  Ministro,"  excavated  by  the 
Cav.  Kestner,  and  so  named  in  compliment  to  him  ; 
it  is  one  of  those  which  I  have  already  described 
under  another  name,  but  I  do  not  remember  which. 
Many  of  these  grottos  bore  two  names.  There 
was  one  called  "  Camera  della  Giustizia."  On 
two  sides  of  it  were  horses,  but  it  took  its  name 
from  the  subject  opposite  the  door.  A  man  offering 
to  a  priestess,  as  was  supposed,  in  favour  of  one 
of  two  combatants  who  were  contending  for  victory 
before  her.  She  turns  away  from  the  gifts,  and  will 
render  justice  only,  not  favour.  I  so  perfectly  re- 
member all  my  feelings  and  reflections  in  this  tomb, 
that  I  must  believe  this  is  correct,  for 'when  a  girl 
I  used  to  lose  half  my  interest  in  Homer's  heroes, 
from  the  victor  always  being  assisted  by  a  divinity, 
which,  as  no  one  ever  took  the  trouble  to  explain  to 
me  the  allegory,  I  thought  extremely  unfair.  It 
struck  me,  at  the  time  we  were  in  this  tomb  of 
justice,  that  the  Etruscans  had  ideas  of  equity  far 
superior  to  the  Greeks.  Here  the  divinity  shows 
no  favour,  and  turns  away  her  head,  that  she  may 
not  even  know  on  whose  side  the  offering  is  present- 
ed.    Had  the  Greeks  but  maintained  such  senti- 


TARQUTNIA. 


223 


ments  as  these,  I  have  no  doubt  I  should  have 
felt  all  the  enthusiasm  for  them  Homer  intended 
to  inspire.  I  could,  perhaps,  have  forgiven  the  death 
of  Hector,  and  might  even  possibly  have  felt  a 
triumph  in  the  fall  of  Troy.  I  need  hardly  say 
that  the  great  use  of  the  sepulchral  paintings  to  us 
is,  that  they  show  so  much  of  the  habits  of  thinking 
and  feeling,  so  much  of  the  religious  belief,  and  the 
domestic  customs  of  the  nation  by  which  they  were 
executed. 

Constant  points  of  resemblance,  or  of  difference, 
struck  me  in  every  tomb  between  the  Etruscans 
and  the  Egyptians,  or  the  ancient  Greeks,  and 
constant  evidences  of  those  customs  which  the 
Etruscans  afterwards  taught  to  Kome ;  the  circus, 
for  instance,  with  its  games,  and  the  velarium 
or  covering  which  they  folded  over  unroofed  build- 
ings to  protect  them  from  the  sun  and  rain,  and 
which  has  generally  been  considered  as  a  most  in- 
genious invention  of  the  Romans.  It  is  much  more 
remarkable  that  in  the  tombs  of  Beni  Hassan,  be- 
longing to  the  reign  of  Osortasen,  b.  c.  2082,  or,  ac- 
cording to  the  lowest  computation,  b.  c.  1740,  many 
of  the  very  same  subjects  are  found  represented, 
such  as  funeral  games,  wrestling,  foot-racing,  and 
(what  we  afterwards  saw  at  Chiusi)  leap-frog.  Also 
in  the  tomb  of  the  General  Nevothpha,  processions 
of  prisoners,  in  size,  form,  dress,  and  armour,  exactly 
like  the  Etruscans,  according  to  the  testimony  of 
Rosellini.  As  far  as  I  could  learn,  the  colouring 
is  much  the  same,  but  the  Etruscan  ochre  paint- 


224 


TARQUINIA. 


ings  are  done  with  more  ease  and  spirit  than  the 
Egyptian,  and  the  frescos  of  the  Cardinale  and 
Tifone  are  in  a  much  higher  style  of  art.  They 
are,  however,  sadly  defaced  and  sadly  decayed. 

I  have  said  that  all  the  painted  tombs  discovered 
in  our  day  have  been  found  empty,  excepting  the 
Grotta  Marzi  and  the  Grotta  del  Tifone :  the 
places,  however,  remain  marked  off  where  the  sar- 
cophagus has  stood.  In  some  of  them,  particularly 
in  the  Grotta  delle  Iscrizioni  and  del  Morto,  there 
is  even  a  rim  all  round  the  place,  and  marks  where 
the  four  feet  have  indented  the  floor.  There  are 
also  nails  remaining  in  some  of  the  walls  from  which 
the  tazze  and  bronze  shields  have  hung.  Much 
did  we  wish  to  see  some  of  the  plainer  tombs  out 
of  which  the  very  beautiful  black  figured  vases 
found  here,  the  bronzes,  gold-hilted  swords,  and 
various  rich  ornaments,  had  been  taken  ;  especially 
we  should  have  liked  to  have  seen  the  warrior's  tomb 
of  Avolta's  own  discovery,  but  they  were  all  filled 
up.  As  I  understood  the  matter,  the  original  doors 
had  been  broken  to  pieces  or  thrown  inwards, 
and  earth  and  stones  had  covered  over  the  spot 
where  the  excavations  had  been  made,  so  that  fifty 
years  hence  they  may  all  be  made  over  again,  and 
cause  money  to  be  spent  for  nothing,  as  no  one 
cares  to  keep  any  plan  of  the  ground  already  ex- 
plored. Avolta  told  me  that  whenever  they  came 
upon  an  unviolated,  or,  as  they  name  it,  a  virgin 
tomb,  they  found  the  entrance  closed  by  a  door, 
which    fitted    so   closelv    that    it   mio:ht    be  called 


TARQUINIA. 


225 


sealed,  and  brought  to  my  mind  our  Saviour's  se- 
pulchre hewn  in  the  rock,  with  a  great  stone  at 
the  mouth  of  it,  very  difiicult  to  move.  These 
doors  consisted  either  of  one  leaf  which  turned 
upon  a  pivot,  or  of  two  leaves  which  folded  the  one 
within  the  other.^  Sometimes  they  were  carved 
like  the  one  on  which  we  sat  in  the  Camera  delle 
Iscrizioni,  and  sometimes  they  were  quite  smooth  and 
plain.  Avolta  said  that  most  of  these  doors  had 
another  immense  stone  laid  against  them  on  the 
outside,  at  an  angle  of  about  45^  and  one  or  two 
which  we  entered  had  double  doors.  All,  or 
nearly  so,  were  descended  by  steps,  though  the 
steps  upon  which  we  walked  were  for  the  most  part 
renewed  by  himself  In  several  of  the  grottos,  rain 
descends  through  some  crevice  in  the  rock,  and 
snails  and  slugs  get  in,  which  considerably  damage 

the  painting. 

The  chief  similarities  that  struck  me  between  Egypt 
and  Etruria  were,  that  their  princely  dead,  whether 
king  or  priest,  were  laid  in  a  rocky  chamber,  either 
painted  or  unpainted,  and  in  a  building,  either  of 
earth  or  stone,  which  represented  a  mountain.  The 
style  of  the  pictures,  though  not  the  subjects,  was 
in  some  tombs  thoroughly  Egyptian,  and  in  others 
both  style  and  subject — the  dancing,  for  instance — 
resembled  early  Greek.  Libations  were  common 
to  all  the  early  nations.  The  Triclinium  of  man 
and  woman   together,  is,   I  believe,   in  the  early 

*  Doors  of  the  same  description  are  found  upon  the  tombs  in  Upper 
Egypt  and  upon  the  sepulchres  of  the  sons  of  David  in  Palestine. 

L   5 


226 


TARQUINIA. 


ages,  peculiar  to  Egypt  and  Etruria.  Like  the 
Greeks,  they  had  funeral  feasts  both  at  the  home 
of  the  departed,  and,  as  would  appear  from  some 
small  side- chambers  attached  occasionally  to  the 
sepulchre,  at  his  grave.  I  cannot  recollect  to  which 
tombs  those  we  saw  especially  belonged.  The 
corpse  was  laid  with  the  face  uppermost,  and  the 
feet  towards  the  door,  ready  to  walk  out,  as  was 
shown  us  by  the  sarcophagi  in  the  Tifone.  The 
emblems  of  their  professions  were  buried  with 
them,  and  garlands  were  appropriated  to  them ; 
such  as  they  had  gained  in  life  through  skill  or 
valour,  were  also  laid  upon  them  in  death,  to  enter 
with  them  into  immortality.  The  dress  of  the 
Greeks,  as  well  as  of  the  Etruscans,  was  of  the 
richest  and  most  expensive  materials,  so  as  to  re- 
quire at  last  limitations  by  law.  The  egg  broken 
at  the  commencement  of  the  feast  seems  to  have 
been  an  Etruscan  custom,  afterwards  borrowed 
by  the  Greeks,  as  it  was  introduced  very  late 
amongst  them.  Funeral  games,  and  races  of 
naked  men  on  foot  or  on  horseback,  were  also 
practised  in  Greece,  and  were  first  known  at  the 
death  of  Areas,  the  son  of  Azun,  and  father  of  the 
Arcadians. 

Many  kinds  of  flutes  were  used  by  the  ancients, 
but  I  do  not  recollect  anywhere,  excepting  here 
and  in  some  Egyptian  tombs,  the  double  flute, 
and  the  lyre  for  elegiac  music.  In  Greece  the 
lyre  was  sacred  to  Apollo,  and  only  used  on  occa- 
sions of  joy  or  thanksgiving.     Boxing  and  other 

10 


TARQUINIA. 


227 


gymnastic  games  to  music  used  to  be  reckoned 
Campanian,  and  proper  to  Volturna,  now  Capua ; 
but  from  the  evidence  of  these  tombs,  it  was  cer- 
tainly Tarquinian  also,  and  probably  obtained 
throughout  the  nation.  A  cone  with  a  wall  round 
it  was  used  by  the  Phoenicians  and  Greeks  ;  of 
this  form  were  the  tombs  of  Agamemnon  at  My- 
cene,  long  called  the  treasury  of  Atreus,  and  those 
of  Hector,  Achilles,  and  Patroclus.  In  all  of  these, 
however,  the  bodies  were  burnt.  The  Athenians 
interred  in  the  days  of  Cecrops,  and  probably  in 
tombs  of  the  same  form,  though  none  exist  of  so 
old  a  date. 

The  height  of  the  figures  which  we  saw  was 
generally  from  two  to  three  feet,  except  in  the 
two  pillared  grottos,  where  they  were  not  above 
one  foot  and  a  half,  and  the  colours  used,  besides 
black  and  white,  were  red,  blue,  and  yellow.  They 
do  not  seem  to  have  known  any  others,  and  it  is 
strange  how  they  should  have  missed  green.  In 
the  fresco,  one  genius  is  brown,  and  I  thought  once 
or  twice  that  there  was  brown  in  the  arabesques, 
but  of  the  bright  colours  they  had  certainly  no 
more  than  blue,  red,  and  yellow.  None  of  these 
tombs  were  arched,  and  in  Athens  the  arch  was 
forbidden. 

Most  of  the  arts  which  they  present  to  us  are 
noted  in  the  Bible  as  known,  and  were  very  likely 
perfected,  before  the  flood,  and  familiar  at  any 
rate  to  the  four  families  within  the  ark,  and  by 
them  preserved,  viz.  the  art  of  building  which  was 


'r 


228 


TARQUINIA. 


TARQUINIA. 


229 


practised  by  Cain  ;  of  handling  musical  instruments 
by   Jubal;    of  working   in    brass    and  iron  or   in 
metals  by  Tubal   Cain ;  and  in   clay,  I   doubt  not, 
by  Adam.     As  to  their  rich  dresses  and  embroi- 
dery, skill  in    these    things,   in    goldsmiths'    work 
and  in   engraving,   was   carried    to    perfection    in 
Egypt  1,500  years  B.C.,  and  perhaps  six  centuries 
earlier,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  tombs  of  Beni  Hassan  ; 
and  the  Etruscans  were  in  constant  communication 
with  Egypt.     All  the  noble  tombs  must  have  be- 
longed to  the  Lucumones  or  nobles  ;  that  class,  out 
of  which  alone  all  the  ruling  officers,  civil,  mili- 
tary, or  sacred,  w^ere  or  could   be  chosen.     My  own 
opinion  of  these  small  square  painted   chambers  is, 
that  they  were  appropriated  to  the  Lar,  or  ruling 
prince,    among  the   Lucumones,    both    from    their 
comparative  rarity,  and  their  beautiful  adornment. 
They  were  singled  out  also  from  all   the  others  by 
the  first  spoilers  as  what  would  afford  the  richest 
prize,  and  this  is  in  all  respects  likely  to  have  been 
the  case  with  the  tombs  of  the  princes.     When  we 
arrived  at  the  Grotta  della  Querciola,  the  door  of 
it,  toAvolta  s  infinite  wrath  and   consternation,  was 
open,   and   inside   lay    a    man's    shirt    and    coat ; 
there  was  also  part  of  a  ladder,  and  part  of  a  chair. 
It  was  evident  that  some  one  had  been  there,  some 
*'  birbante,"  as  our   guide  called   him,   who  either 
wished  to  make  it  a  home,  or  a  repository  of  stolen 
goods.     The  dress,  which  was  in  very  tolerable  con- 
dition, we  delivered  to  the  police,  with  whom,  for 
aught  we  know,  it  still  remains,  the  possessor  never 


! 


daring  to  reclaim  It.  Avolta  had  the  door  fastened, 
and  to  our  no  small  amazement,  when  we  returned 
to  this  grotto  three  days  afterwards,  we  found  that 
it  had  again  been  broken  into,  and  a  quantity  of 
firewood  laid  down.  I  never  heard  whether  the 
transgressor  was  discovered,  but  he  was  supposed 
to  be  some  sheep-stealer  in  hiding,  a  style  of  de- 
predator not  uncommon  thereabouts.  In  this  grotto 
is  represented  that  peculiar  kind  of  dancing  which 
Dionysius  mentions  as  being  practised  by  the  Greeks 
at  funerals,  and  called  Satyria,  from  the  extravagant 
motions  of  the  dancers,  and  a  representation  of 
which  is  to  be  seen  in  a  very  old  Greek  basso  relievo 
over  a  door  at  Villa  Albani. 

The  whole  of  the  Tarquinian  cemetery  belongs  to 
the  Borgo  S.  Spirito,  and  is  let  out  for  excavations 
and  for  sheep-feeding.  Lord  Kinnaird's  excava- 
tions were  near  the  Grotta  del  Triclinio,  and  a  scavo 
costs,  as  Avolta  told  me,  from  45  to  1500  or  more 
scudi,  according  to  the  number  of  men  employed, 
and  the  difficulty  or  ease  of  reaching  the  tomb. 
Those  who  knew  this  immense  necropolis  many 
years  ago,  say,  that  it  has  anciently  been  laid  out 
in  streets  and  squares  like  the  opposite  city,  and  in 
imitation  of  it,  which  appears  to  have  been  the  rule 
in  all  the  burying  grounds,  and  which  would  add 
doubly  and  trebly  to  the  interest  of  any  one  that 
could  be  discovered  uninjured.  In  Tarquinia  the 
roads  that  led  to  it,  and  the  four  gates,  are  still 
discoverable.  I  can  easily  imagine  my  unlearned 
reader  asking  how  I  know  that  Tarquinia  had   four 


*  4' 

I 


230 


TARQUINIA. 


gates,  and  a  fortress,  and  a  temple,  and  terraces, 
and  a  splendid  forum,  and  magnificent  colonnades, 
thinofs  which  we  are  accustomed  to  associate  either 
with  Greek  art,  or  with  later  times :  we  know  it, 
my  reader,  because  these  things  were  characteristic 
of  every  Etruscan  city  long  prior  to  Rome,  and 
were  introduced  into  Rome  from  Etruria,  The 
Tuscan  order  took  its  name  from  this  ancient 
people,  who  used  the  Doric  also ;  and  the  forms 
of  their  temples,  forums,  and  houses,  are  quite  well 
ascertained.  We  go  upon  record,  and  not  imagina- 
tion, when  we  describe  them  to  you.  From  the 
tombs  of  Tarquinia  five  thousand  vases  have  been 
taken  out  since  1815,  and  the  value  is  now  just 
one-half  of  what  it  was  at  first.  Fossati,  Campa- 
nari,  and  Candelori,  ten  years  ago,  I  was  told, 
cleared  forty  thousand  scudi  in  three  months  by 
their  excavations. 

Of  the  tombs  opened,  not  one-tenth,  and  perhaps 
not  above  one-twentieth,  are  virgin ;  but  many  which 
have  been  spoiled  in  ancient  times,  are  still  worth  a 
second  search.  I  understood  Avolta,  that  wherever 
the  door  was  broken,  the  touib  had  certainly 
been  rifled ;  but  in  former  times  it  was  done  with 
much  more  respect  than  now,  for  the  chamber 
or  grotta  had  been  reclosed,  so  as  to  prevent  the 
rain  and  soil  from  ruining  it.  The  painted  cham- 
bers were  found  dry  and  clean,  with  their  colours 
brilliant,  and  in  some  the  sarcophagi  remained 
untouched,  as  in  the  one  at  Monterone,  and  in 
the  Grotta  Marzi ;  and  in   many  there  are  quan- 


TARQUINIA. 


231 


r) 


r 


titles  of  vases,  as  in  the  one  we  opened  at  Veii ;  the 
imperial  or  gothic  thieves  having  only  taken  away 
such  articles  as  were  prized  in  their  day  ;  gold  and 
jewels,  scarabei,  which  the  Romans  wore  for  orna- 
ment, and  very  fine  vases  or  tazze.  At  Veii  we 
found,  as  I  have  said,  about  twenty  vases,  every 
one  of  which,  though  coarse,  was  worth  something ; 
and  in  the  opened  and  reclosed  tombs  of  Tarquinia, 
Vulci,  and  all  around,  are  found  such  bronzes,  arms, 
and  terra  cotta,  as  former  barbarians  or  antiquarians 
thought  it  not  worth  their  while  to  remove,  though 
very  well  worth  the  trouble  now.  Broken  vases, 
in  particular,  of  the  rarest  beauty,  are  found ;  and 
these  are  put  together  in  Rome  and  Naples  with  so 
much  art,  that  the  joinings  and  restorations  can  only 
be  detected  upon  careful  examination  by  very  prac- 
tised hands,  and  to  foreigners  in  the  mass  are  quite 
invisible.  I  could  never  perceive  them,  though  they 
were  shown  me ;  but  I  had  great  satisfaction  in 
finding  that  every  dealer  saw  them,  and  could  point 
them  out  at  once.  Such  vases  sell  in  both  capitals 
for  nearly,  if  not  quite  as  high  a  price,  as  if  they  had 
been  found  unbroken.  They  reason  that  the  pieces 
of  a  broken  vase  are  as  genuine  and  ancient  as  those 
of  an  unbroken  one ;  the  clay  as  fine,  the  enamel 
as  bright,  the  subject  and  the  inscription,  if  any,  as 
valuable  ;  therefore  its  being  broken  or  unbroken  is 
a  mere  fancy  of  the  purchaser,  and  if  you  pay  in  the 
one  case  for  the  rarity  of  a  whole  vase,  you  must 
pay  in  the  other  for  the  time,  and  labour,  and  skill, 
of  the  mended  or  restored  one.   The  only  important 


232 


TARQUINIA. 


TARQUINIA, 


233 


Ij 


If 


part  of  the  matter  is  to  ascertain  that  the  restorer 
has  altered  and  added  nothing  of  his  own ;  also 
that  all  the  pieces  put  together  belong  to  the  same 
vase,  and  that  your  vase  is  not  one  made  up  of  many 
others,  even  though  all  the  pieces  may  be  ancient. 
We  had  once  a  vase  of  great  beauty  and  immense 
size  offered  to  us,  found  in  Tuscania  ;  it  was 
of  the  finest  clay,  of  the  oldest  style  in  black  and 
white  figures,  and  with  a  very  fine  enamel.  We 
discovered  that  the  back  of  the  vase  was  antique  ; 
the  front  with  the  leading  subject  was  the  painter's, 
i.  e.  the  very  clever  restorer's  fancy,  and  the  rim, 
of  great  beauty  and  rarity,  had  been  brought  from 
General  Galassi,  being  one  of  his  many  fragments 
from  Cere.  There  was  not  one  antiquarian  who 
saw  this  vase,  who  did  not  immediately  guide  his 
finger  along  the  modern  part,  and  we  returned  it. 
It  was  so  beautiful  that  we  really  did  so  with  sorrow, 
and  I  must  do  the  dealer  the  justice  to  say,  that  he 
never  from  the  first  praised  it  as  we  thought  it  de 
served,  that  he  never  denied  its  being  much  restored, 
and  that  he  immediately  and  without  dispute  gave 
us  back  our  money  when  we  told  him  that  such  a 
vase  could  not  be  shown  as  a  specimen  of  the  art 
of  the  ancients.  Capranesi  is  quite  above  these 
arts,  and  I  do  not  think  he  would  be  easily  tempted 
to  lose  his  high  character.  I  do  not  say  this  to 
disparage  others,  many  of  whom  treated  us  very 
handsomely  and  never  attempted  to  deceive  us,  but 
merely  to  show  that  he  was  one  whose  union  of  know- 
ledge and  probity  nobody  ever  distrusted  ;  and  Dedo- 


minicig,  with  his  very  small  collection,  is,  I  believe, 
another.  As  the  most  reasonable  and  obliging 
dealer  in  Rome,  and  as  a  man  who  has  most  beau- 
tiful things,  I  cannot  omit  our  good  friend  Vesco- 
vali ;  neither  do  I  like  to  pass  over  Fossati,  Fre- 
diani,  a  very  civil  little  man  in  the  Corso,  and 
Basseggio,  whose  collection  of  vases  is  certainly  the 
richest,  and  at  very  moderate  prices. 

A  friend  of  ours  has  a  fragment  of  a  most 
beautiful  vase  from  Tarquinia,  of  the  finest  enamel 
and  with  letters,  which  he  picked  up  there  in  a 
tomb.  Cav.  Kestner  has  two  most  valuable  vases, 
the  first  of  which,  consisting  of  sixteen  pieces,  he 
purchased  from  a  peasant  at  Tuscania,  and  when  it 
came  to  be  put  together,  it  was  perfect,  with  the 
exception  of  one  piece.  This  the  minister  did 
not  supply,  choosing  rather  to  keep  his  vase  imper- 
fect ;  but  a  year  after  he  purchased  another  basket- 
ful of  fragments  from  another  peasant,  who  had 
found  them  at  Monte  Fiascone,  I  forget  how  many 
pieces  he  found,  but  I  think  thirty-seven  ;  of  these 
thirty-six  made  another  beautiful  vase,  and  the 
thirty-seventh  exactly  supplied  the  vacant  place  of 
the  vase  he  had  purchased  the  preceding  year. 
According  to  the  testimony  of  the  peasants,  the 
tombs  in  which  these  fragments  were  found  had 
both  been  opened  before,  and  in  that  case  we  must 
suppose  the  man  who  had  rifled  the  one  to  have 
carried  part  of  his  spoil  into  the  other,  and  there  to 
have  left  a  broken  piece  which  he  thought  super- 
fluous.    I   confess   it   appeared   to  us  much  more 


234 


TARQUINIA. 


1/ 


likely  that  the  Toseanella  Contadino  had  joined 
with  some  others  to  rob  a  tomb  at  Monte  Fiascone, 
and  that  they  had  afterwards  divided  by  guess  the 
spoil ;  but  I  do  not  know  what  evidence  the 
Cavaliere  may  not  have  had  that  his  men  spoke 
truth,  and  "  le  vrai  n'est  pas  toujours  le 
vraisemblable," — a  fact  which  one  is  constantly 
learning  in  such  expeditions  as  these.  Two  of  the 
finest  vases  of  the  King  of  Naples  were  in  an  in- 
credible number  of  pieces,  and  have  been  so  well 
joined  that  no  defect  is  perceptible,  but  all  the  pieces 
are  genuine,  and  were  found  together. 

We  had  always  understood  that  Lord  Kinnaird 
had  been  exceedingly  disappointed  in  his  excava- 
tions, and  Manzi  even  places  it  upon  record,  and 
says  it  was  owing  to  the  unskilfulness  of  those  who 
worked  for  him  ;  but  Avolta,  who  knew  very  well 
the  result  of  all  his  operations,  utterly  denied  this, 
and  Siiys,  on  the  contrary,  that  he  considered  him- 
self well  repaid,  and  that  he  found  articles  of  equal 
rarity  and  value.  Among  other  things  he  carried 
away  the  sword  adorned  with  gold,  and  the  golden 
crown  of  Avolta's  still  undissolved  warrior. 

Corneto  is  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  graves 
of  its  ancient  inhabitants,  Roman  when  not 
Etruscan.  The  Greeks  often  buried  their  re- 
nowned and  honoured  dead  in  the  very  centre  of 
the  city,  and  the  Romans,  when  they  did  not  do 
the  same,  erected  their  tombs  by  the  highway ; 
but  the  Etruscans  seem  always  to  have  appro- 
priated and  probably  consecrated  as  much  ground 


TARQUINIA. 


235 


k^ 


to  the  dead  as  they  did  to  the  living,  on  the  same 
regular  plan,  and  on  a  rising  ground  or  rising 
grounds  opposite.  The  present  town  of  Corneto  is 
excavated  all  round  with  sepulchral  caves  that  have 
been  for  ages  open  and  empty,  and  many  great 
families,  or  perhaps  distinguished  foreigners,  such 
as  Egyptians,  appear  to  have  had  burying  places 
of  their  own  near  the  city,  but  not  in  the  locality  of 
its  natives, 

I  should  here  perhaps  mention  the  aqueduct  close 
to  which  we  left  our  carriages,  and  under  which 
we  went  in  order  to  descend  to  the  Grotta  del  Car- 
dinale.  It  is  Roman,  upon  arches,  though  I  know 
not  of  what  date,  and  extends  a  considerable  dis- 
tance. It  used  to  convey  water  into  Tarquinia, 
and  it  is  a  pity  that  something  of  the  sort  is  not 
constructed  for  Corneto,  as  the  town  in  summer 
is  often  sadly  distressed  from  the  failure  of  the 
present  limited  supply.  The  little  river  Marta  runs 
far  beneath  it,  and  the  streams  which  the  people 
can  command  are  not  nearly  sufficient.  They  have 
two  very  pretty  fountains,  which  are  often  dry. 

Having  satisfied  our  curiosity  by  visiting  the 
tombs  of  the  Tarquinians,  our  next  object  was  to 
endeavour  to  trace  the  remnants  of  their  abode 
during  life.  The  only  complaint  that  we  have 
against  the  excellent  Avolta  is,  that  he  rather  dis- 
couraged the  expedition  we  proposed  to  the  rocky 
hill  which  was  the  site  of  the  ancient  city,  and 
which  formed  so  striking  an  object  from  the  ne- 
cropolis.     He   represented   it  as   a  very   difficult 


I 


236 


TARQUINIA, 


scramble,  which  would  not  in  any  way  reward  us 
for  the  trouble.  We  were,  however,  resolved  to 
make  a  voyage  of  discovery,  and  for  that  purpose 
drove  along  the  public  road  which  intersects  the 
necropolis,  until  we  got  nearly  to  the  end  of  it. 
Then  we  left  the  carriage,  and  walked  to  the  brow 
of  the  steep  hill  overhanging  the  valley  which 
separates  the  ancient  city,  now  Turchina,  from  the 
necropolis  or  Monterozzi,  and  which  runs  on  as 
far  as  under  the  town  of  Corneto.  Down  this  hill 
we  scrambled,  and  found  ourselves  in  the  midst  of 
the  valley,  advancing  towards  the  rocky  cliffs  on 
which  Tarquinia  was  once  built. 

As  we  approached  we  looked  eagerly,  but  in  vain, 
for  any  trace  of  the  hand  of  man.  A  specimen  of 
masonry,  Cyclopean,  Etruscan,  or  even  Roman, 
would  have  been  acceptable ;  but  we  could  discern 
nothing  but  rude  cliffs  and  rocky  terraces,  which 
had  doubtless  once  formed  the  substructions  of 
towers  and  palaces.  After  a  good  deal  of  trouble 
we  surmounted  them,  and  enjoyed  a  fine  view  of  the 
opposite  necropolis,  the  more  distant  Corneto,  and 
immediately  around  us,  the  site  of  the  ancient  city. 
Here  we  saw  a  hill  rising  above  us  at  the  distance 
of  about  half  a  mile,  and  our  anxiety  to  find  walls 
or  stones,  or  anything  which  bore  the  marks  of 
human  workmanship,  animated  us  to  proceed  :  we 
compared  ourselves  with  the  explorers  of  the  ruins 
of  Babylon  or  Oaxaca,  for  the  spot  on  which  we 
now  stood  was  to  us,  and  I  believe  to  most  of  our 
countrymen,  as  little  known  as  the  antiquities  of  the 


\ 


TARQUINIA. 


237 


remote  east,   or  the   scarcely   discovered   west.     I 
cannot  easily  describe  my  pleasure,  when,  on  ap- 
proaching the  summit  of  the  hill,  I  descried  what 
was  evidently  a  wall,  and  as  I  advanced   I  per- 
ceived  a   massive   arch,  half  covered    up    in    the 
ground ;  but  enough  was  seen  to  convince  me,  that 
it  must  have  been  a  work  of  solid  magnificence. 
The  neighbouring  summit  had  been  built  upon,  and 
formed   a   terrace,  the  wall  of  which  partially  re- 
mained, and  reminded  us  of  the  walls  of  Fiesole. 
On  this  we  traced  the  substructions  of  at  least  two 
buildings,  a  greater  and  a  less,  both  of  the  same 
solid  masonry.     I  could  scarcely  find  words  to  ex- 
press my   satisfaction  and   surprise  at  this    unex- 
pected  discovery ;    and    I    proposed    to   my  com- 
panion that  we  should  use  the  privilege  of  original 
explorers,  and  give  names  to  the  monuments  of  an- 
tiquity which  he  had  thus  rescued  from  oblivion. 

The  arch  we  christened  by  the  name  of  "  De- 
maratus ;"  the  summit  of  the  hill  we  called  (as 
doubtless  it  really  was)  the  acropolis  or  fortress; 
and  we  assigned  the  larger  building  as  a  temple  to 
Menrfa,  the  Etruscan  Minerva,  and  the  smaller  as 
a  heroon  or  fane  to  the  demigod  Tages !  But 
seriously,  as  this  was  the  highest  point  of  the  city, 
and  probably  the  arx,  its  summit  must  have  been 
crowned  by  the  principal  public  buildings,  of  which 
the  temples  were  the  chief;  and  no  Etruscan  city 
was  built  without  temples  in  the  most  conspicuous 
part  to  Menrfa,  (Minerva,)  Kupra,  (Juno,)  and 
Tina,  (Jupiter.)     The  arch  strongly  resembled  that 


ii  \ 


//  /////./y/'ll^^ 


238 


TARQUINIA. 


of  the  cloaca  maxima  at  Rome,  which  was  built 
during  the  Etruscan  domination  of  that  city ;  and 
it,  as  well  as  the  foundations  of  the  arx  and  temples, 
was  built  of  that  solid  gigantic,  yet  regular  masonry 
which  is  styled  Etruscan,  and  which  is  equally  re- 
moved from  the  huge  and  shapeless  Cyclopean^  and 
the  less  massive  Roman. 

The  Cyclopean  walls  are  the  remains  of  some 
most  ancient  people,  who  bore  sway  in  Italy  at  a 
period  even  more  remote  than  the  national  existence 
of  Etruria.  They  are  formed  of  vast  polygonal 
blocks,  and  may  be  distinguished  by  two  subdivisions 
of  style  which  are  sometimes  found  in  the  same 
city.  1.  Rude  and  totally  without  order,  as  Pau- 
sanias  describes  the  walls  of  Tyrus  in  Greece ;  an 
Italian  specimen  of  this  is  "  Cora"  of  the  Volsci. 
2.  Where  greater  care  and  art  were  used  in  their 
construction  ;  and  of  this  the  walls  of  "  Amiternum" 
may  serve  as  an  example.  The  mountains  of 
the  Equi,  Hernici,  and  Volsci,  are  full  of  speci- 
mens of  these  walls.  Sometimes  they  are  formed 
of  two  parallel  rows  of  blocks,  with  a  mound  of 
earth  between  them,  composing  the  body  of  the  wall. 
The  gates  of  such  Cyclopean  cities  are  generally 
mere  interruptions  of  the  walls,  with  an  immense 
stone  laid  across  by  way  of  architrave,  and  an  ap- 
proximation of  the  stones  of  the  gateway  to  each 
other,  tapering  towards  the  top.  Of  these  gates, 
the  finest  specimens  extant  are  at  Allatri,  Segni, 
and  Arpino.  The  Etruscan  style  is  much  more 
perfect  than  these,  and  denotes  a  far  higher  grade 


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£f/ffsr/r/^/  //^f^r  r/  t///'  /////'///•/  /'/■' Fr/-r//f7//rf/r/ . 


TARQUINIA. 


239 


r. 


of  architectural  taste  and  knowledge.  The  best 
specimens  that  I  have  seen  of  it  are  the  magnificent 
walls  of  Cortona,  Fiesole,  and  Perugia ;  and  to  give 
an  idea  of  the  style  of  the  gate,  I  subjoin  a  drawing 
of  that  of  the  citadel  of  Ferentinum.  Belonging  to 
this  style  appeared  to  be  the  remains,  which  we 
found  at  Tarquinia,  and  which  I  conceive  to  be  solid 
remnants  of  Etruscan  grandeur,  surviving  the  less 
massive  fabrics  of  the  Roman  municipia,  and  telling 
us  how  great  the  whole  must  have  been,  of  which 
they  form  but  a  fragment. 

After  spending  a  long  time  at  the  acropolis, 
seated  on  the  foundations  of  the  temple,  we  re- 
turned to  our  carriage  by  a  different  way,  in  order, 
if  possible,  to  make  more  discoveries. — We  de- 
scended another  side  of  the  hill  of  Tarquinia,  and 
crossed  a  curve  of  the  valley  which  divided  the 
city  from  the  necropolis.  During  this  descent  we 
examined  some  large  and  beautiful  specimens  of 
Etruscan  architecture  on  the  steep  slope  of  the  hill, 
which  had  formerly  belonged  to  the  outer  wall  of 
the  city.  When  we  returned  to  Corneto,  we  asked 
the  gonfaloniere  if  no  search  had  been  made  for 
objects  of  antiquity  on  the  spot  which  he  had  just 
quitted,  when,  by  way  of  answering  our  question,  he 
conducted  us  to  the  palazzo  of  one  of  the  principal 
Cornetan  families,  the  Bruschi.  There  we  saw 
tablets  of  marble,  with  Latin  inscriptions  in  beau- 
tiful preservation,  in  honour  of  a  distinguished  bene- 
factor of  Roman  Tarquinia,  a  praetor.  These  had 
been  dug  up  among  the  ruins  of  the  municipia, 


240 


TARQUINIA. 


which,  like  that  at  Veii,  occuj3ied  a  portion  of  the 
site  of  the  ancient  city.  But  I  cannot  help  think- 
ing that  if  a  diligent  search  were  made,  many  more 
valuable  things  would  be  found.  The  place  is  very 
little  known  even  to  the  Italians,  and  has  scarcely 
ever  been  visited  by  the  few  strangers  who  have 
explored  the  tombs.  I  would,  however,  recommend 
it  as  a  highly  interesting  excursion  to  every  one  who 
has  half  a  day  to  spare. 

On  the  following  morning  we  set  out  to  visit  the 
remains  of  an  ancient  temple  about  a  mile  from 
Corneto,  in  the  direction  of  the  Necropolis.  We 
approached  it  from  Corneto  by  a  thing  called  a 
road,  but  which  no  English  person  would  have 
guessed  to  have  been  meant  for  one,  having  at  a 
small  distance  from  it,  on  each  side,  vast  and  splen- 
did tombs,  all  now  in  ruined  masses,  and  their  con- 
tents at  the  other  end  of  the  earth,  and  then  we 
walked  through  a  quiet  green  lane,  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  yards,  when  we  came  upon  a  vast 
circle,  something  like  the  crater  of  a  volcano  ;  the 
lower  half  of  it  being  a  cliff  of  rocks  with  eight 
wide-mouthed  caverns,  and  the  upper  half  of  it 
partially  covered  with  brushwood  and  huge  loose 
stones.  We  descended  into  this  rocky  amphitheatre, 
which  has  indeed  the  appearance  of  some  vast  and 
magnificent  quarry,  and  the  extraordinary  grandeur 
of  one  of  the  caverns  arrested  our  attention  before 
proceeding  to  the  temple.  We  crossed  over  to  the 
mouth  of  a  cave  which  struck  me  as  one  of  the  most 
masnificent  thino^s  of  the  kind  I  had  ever  seen.    As 


TARQUINIA. 


241 


far  as  it  extends,  it  may  vie  with,  or  even  surpass,  the 
cavern  at  Castleton  in  Derbyshire.  As  I  stood 
before  its  wide-yawning  entrance,  I  thought  of  the 
lines  of  Dante,  which  the  scenery  here,  if  he  had 
visited  it,  might  naturally  have  suggested  to  him 


"  Per  me  se  va  nella  citta  dolente, 
Per  me  se  va  nel  eterno  dolore, 
Per  me  se  va  tra  la  perduta  gente. 


»> 


On  entering  the  cavern  its  height  becomes  still  more 
imposing—its  breadth  increases,  and  its  length  is 
lost  in  gloom.     But  after  wandering  for  about  a 
hundred   yards  in   its  immensity,  I  found   that   it 
became  suddenly  narrow  and  abruptly  terminated. 
This  Avolta  explained  to  have  been  the  quarry  from 
which  the  stone  was  taken  to  build  modern  Corneto, 
in  the  third  or  fourth  century,  or,  as  others  say,  in 
the  seventh   or  eighth   century.     This  cavern    has 
three  noble  entrances,  and  its  exterior  and  interior 
are  worthy  of  each  other.     Though  the   galleries 
have  been  regularly  quarried,  and  the  stone  drawn 
out   of  it   has   been,   according  to   the  fashion    of 
old,  in    enormous   rectangular  blocks,  there  is  no 
appearance  of  art  about  it,  but  it  gives  one  the  idea 
of  some  mighty  natural  wonder,  expressly  formed  to 
excite  admiration  and  awe.     It  has  every  appear- 
ance of  having  served  for  the  great  works  of  Tar- 
quinia,  five  and  twenty  or  thirty  centuries  ao-o,  and 
fallen  Tarquinia,  when   in  ruins,  has   much    more 
probably    been    the    quarry   from    ^\hich    modern 
Corneto  has  been    built.     Whpn  we  expressed  to 

M 


242 


TARQUINIA. 


Avolta  our  admiration  of  this  wonderful  imitation 
of  nature,  he  told  us  that,  in  his  younger  days,  an 
eccentric  countryman   of  ours,   Lord  Bristol,   the 
Bishop  of  Derry,  the  "  Count-Bishop,"  as  Horace 
Walpole   calls   him,  was  so  much  struck  with  it, 
that  he  came  almost  every  year  to  Corneto  for  the 
sake  of    seeing   it,   long  before  the   more  recent 
Etruscan  discoveries  had  given  the  place  an  interest 
to  persons  fond  of  antiquities.     Lord  Bristol  used 
to  amuse  himself  with  astonishing  the  Italian  clergy. 
During  his  frequent   wanderings,   when   he   came 
to  a   very  uncomfortable   inn,  he  used  to  send  to 
the  parish  clergyman  and  insist  upon  his  exercising 
hospitality  towards  him  as  to  a  father  of  the  church'', 
and   on   one   occasion   he  invited  a  large  body  of 
Cornetan  monks  to  dine  with  him  on  a  fast-day, 
and  seduced  them  into  disobedience  by  having  for- 
bidden meats  dressed  up  so  as  to  represent  maigre. 
After  they  had  all  heartily  eaten,  he  revealed  the 
truth  to  them,  exulted  in  the  trap  he  had  laid,  and 
scandalized  them  by  such  irregular  conduct  in  a 
Bishop. 

Next  to  this  cavern  came  four  old  Etruscan 
grottos  or  graves,  but  all  open  ;  and  as  they  have 
been  ransacked  ages  since,  they  are  not  worth  ex- 
ploring. We  therefore  crossed  the  little  vale  to 
see  the  temple,  the  real  object  of  our  excursion,  and 
at  the  upper  end,  on  the  opposite  side,  we  came  in 
front  of  a  faqade,  hollowed  out  of  the  living  rock, 
so  as  to  form  a  cavern,  carved  with  friezes,  pilasters,' 
and  various  architectural  ornaments,  having  a  de- 


i 


TARQUINIA. 


243 


corated  and  dome-shaped  roof.  The  carving  is  of  a 
very  ancient  style,  in  most  places  much  obliterated, 
and  in  some  entirely  so.  One  can  only  discover 
where  friezes  of  elaborate  ornament  once  have  been. 
I  am  far  from  pledging  myself  to  anything  like 
accuracy  in  the  resemblance,  but  the  carving  re- 
called a  little  to  my  mind  the  friezes  of  the  temple 
of  Antoninus  and  Faustina  at  Rome.  In  the  in- 
nermost part  of  this  sculptured  cavern  we  descried 
a  low  door  through  which  I  squeezed  myself,  and 
entered  a  low  vaulted  chamber  rudely  cut  out  of 
the  rock,  which  has  probably  been  the  adytum  of 
the  temple  from  whence  issued  the  oracles  with 
which  the  priests  and  the  initiated  deluded  the 
people.  Avolta  informed  us  that  this  temple  bears 
the  name  of  "  Cerere,'*  but  we  heard  no  good  reason 
assigned  for  its  being  so;  and  it  has  much  more 
probably  been  the  temple  of  Isis  or  Iside,  the  name 
having  been  corrupted  by  the  country  people. 
It  is  a  round  rock  temple,  and  not  in  the  Etrus- 
can style,  neither  can  I  say  that  it  retains  any 
beauty  now;  but  it  is  evidently  of  very  high  an- 
tiquity, and  it  is  interesting,  not  only  because  it  is 
the  only  remnant  of  a  temple  in  this  place,  but,  as 
far  as  I  know,  the  only  rock  temple  in  Italy  north 
of  Naples. 

As  we  in  some  parts  made  out  the  frieze  very 
indistinctly,  and  in  others  not  at  all,  we  asked 
Avolta  if  he  knew  what  the  figures  were.  He 
then  made  us  perceive  that  they  were  all  sphynxes 
of  considerable  size.      "  Some   people,"    he  said, 

M  2 


244 


TARQUINIA 


"  have  written  treatises  on  this,  and  have  seen  in  it 
I  know  not  what  mystic  emblems  ;  but  the  ancients 
were  not  always  mystical,  they  were  sometimes 
quite  plain,  and  this  is  nothing  but  an  ornament,  a 
frieze  of  simple  sphynxes,  which  I  remember  quite 
perfect."  Ancient  ornaments,  however,  had  always 
some  relation  to  the  things  they  represented.  Isis 
is  said  to  have  taught  agriculture  in  Egypt,  and  to 
have  been  the  same  as  the  Ceres  of  Eieusis,  but  she 
is  not  the  same  as  the  Ceres  of  Rome  or  of  Etruria, 
and  Ceres  would  not  have  had  sphynxes  in  her  temple. 
It  was  lined  with  stucco,  and  had  once  been  painted  ; 
but  every  mark  of  this  is  now  obliterated.  Carlo 
Avolta  remembers  three  naked  figures  which  would 
have  told  us  much  of  its  history,  but  once  when  he 
was  away,  a  mischievous  and  unthinking  man  chose 
to  hold  a  pic-nic  here,  and  to  light  a  fire,  and  esta- 
blish the  kitchen  of  his  party  within  the  temple. 
The  consequence  was,  that  the  smoke  destroyed 
all  that  remained  of  the  paintings.  I  fancy  pic- 
nics were  very  often  held  here,  and  a  more  ro- 
mantic, retired,  and  beautiful  spot  can  scarcely  be 
imagined,  though  it  would  seem  that  meditation 
upon  the  past  had  formed  no  part  of  the  occupation 
of  those  who  chose  it  for  their  merry-makings. 
To  me  it  would  have  given  the  impression  (but  for 
these  unseemly  associations)  of  holy  ground, "  which 
breathed  of  peace,  and  tuned  the  heart  to  prayer:" 
a  spot  where  one  might  come  to  learn  wisdom,  to 
meditate  upon  the  days  that  are  gone,  and  "  to 
commune  with  one's  own  heart  and  be  still."     This 


TARQUINIA. 


245 


temple  formerly  had  a  door  upon  it,  but  it  was  so 
continually  broken  into  by  the  contadini,  that,  after 
the  above-mentioned  memorable  fire,  it  was  never 
renewed.  A  Roman  prince  who  admired  this  place 
as  much  as  we  did,  had,  many  years  ago,  a  set  of 
plans  made  of  the  temple,  and  gave  Avolta  a  copy 
tale  quaky  but  they  were  either  stolen  from  him, 
or  he  lost  them.  What  a  scene  this  would  have 
been  for  a  general  assembly  of  the  Druids,  or  of 
the  high  priests,  or  great  council  of  any  nation ! 
The  cave  next  to  the  temple  was  semi-circular, 
and,  to  my  amazement,  on  entering  it,  I  found  a 
columbarium  ;  i.  e.  what  I  took  to  be  a  Roman 
burying-place,  where  small  vases  of  baked  clay, 
like  fliower-pots,  only  filled  with  ashes  and  covered 
with  a  lid,  are  laid  in  rows  within  holes,  exactly 
like  a  pigeon«house.  I  called  out  to  Avolta, 
"  Surely  it  is  not  possible  that  this  can  be  a  Roman 
columbarium  ;"  he  laughed,  and  said,  "  A  colum- 
barium it  certainly  is,  but  Roman  it  is  not.  In  my 
youth  it  was  a  cavern  like  the  others,  some  old 
tomb  probably,  but  many  years  ago  a  pazzo  (a  mad 
or  foolish  man)  who  was  here,  took  it  into  his  head 
to  keep  sheep  above  and  doves  beneath.  He  had 
a  quantity  of  pigeons  here,  but  now  he  is  gone,  and 
nothing  remains  of  him  but  his  folly. 

Words  cannot  tell  how  sorry  I  am  not  to  have 
made  more  copious  notes  of  what  we  saw  in  Corneto, 
so  many  things  have  entirely  escaped  me,  which, 
when  at  the  place,  I  thought  it  impossible  to  forget. 
There  is  a  very  small,  very  ancient,  and  very  in- 


246 


TARQUINIA. 


teresting  little  church  or  chapel  in  the  burying- 
ground  of  the  town,  the  Carapo  Santo,  a  model  in 
its  own  style  of  architecture,  with  a  cupola.  There 
are  twenty -three  churches  to  a  population  which 
varies  from  four  to  nine  thousand  inhabitants,  and 
upon  an  average  there  cannot  be  less  than  ten 
ecclesiastical  persons  to  each  church.  In  England 
there  would  be  two  churches  to  such  a  population 
at  most,  perhaps  only  one,  perhaps  only  half  a  one, 
i.  e.  one  to  eighteen  thousand,  and  two  clergymen. 
There  are  two  cathedrals,  the  old  and  the  new,  the 
former  of  which,  called  Santa  Maria  di  Castello,  is 
much  the  best  worth  seeing.  It  was  struck  by 
lightning  some  years  ago,  in  1810,  and  has  been 
unserviceable  ever  since,  except  during  three  days 
in  the  year,  of  which  that  of  St.  Antonio  is  one.  It 
was  upon  this  occasion  that  the  Tarquinian  horses 
leaped  off  the  roof  of  the  high  tower,  and  broke 
their  necks  or  backs,  so  as  to  sign  their  own  death- 
warrant,  killing  a  Cornetan  ass  by  the  way,  which 
was  feeding  peaceably  beneath  them,  close  to  the 
church  door.  It  has  a  beautiful  dome,  and  the 
proportions  are  the  same  as  those  of  St.  Peter, 
though  not  the  size.  The  entrance  door  is  very 
fine— a  large  round  arch,  which  has  been  com- 
pletely bordered  in  Mosaic  of  various  coloured 
marbles,  porphyries,  and  serpentine.  But,  alas! 
little  now  remains,  for  they  have  been  picked  out 
and  sold.  I  suppose  the  Vicario  has  in  some  way 
made  himself  very  much  disliked,  as  he  is  accused 
of  doing  it ;  and  scandal  says,  that  when  the  Pope 


y 


ih. 


TARQUINIA. 


247 


visited  Corneto,  he  took  a  sick  fit,  for  fear  of  being 
obliged  to  conduct  him  to  this  ancient  and  ill-used 
church.  The  inside  is  divided  into  a  nave  and  two 
aisles,  by  large  ugly  square  pillars,  with  a  smaller 
round  pillar  on  each  side.  There  is  no  bishop's 
chair  in  it,  and  no  tables  for  reading  the  gospels, 
and  the  organ  is  most  ungracefully  placed  in  the 
tribune.  In  front  of  the  curiously-shaped  old 
marble  pulpit  are  four  small  twisted  pillars,  which 
have  been  once  Mosaic,  but  have  been  pulled  to 
pieces  like  the  door.  One  most  rare  piece  of 
marble  is  here,  which  would  have  been  displaced  and 
sold  also,  had  any  one  known  its  value,  before  the 
public  voice  stopped  the  shameless  depredations; 
and  here  and  on  each  side  of  the  great  door  are 
some  exceedingly  curious  old  Latin  inscriptions, 
mentioning  the  bishops  of  Tarquinia,  and  the 
change  of  the  see,  and  the  foundation  and  con- 
servation of  this  church.  They  are  well  worth  the 
trouble  of  copying.  Something  rare  and  remark- 
able also  there  is  at  the  door,  but  I  made  no  note  of 
it ;  neither  did  I  copy,  as  I  hope  others  will  do,  a 
long  Etruscan  inscription,  which  Avolta  showed 
me  upon  a  piece  of  white  marble  in  the  left  aisle. 
The  pavement  of  the  nave  is  that  sort  of  Mosaic 
called  "  Opus  Alexandrinum,"  and  the  baptismal 
font  is  large  and  handsome ;  it  is  a  round  basin  or 
bath  for  immersion,  and  I  believe  it  to  be  antique. 
This  church  once  belonged  to  the  Franciscans, 
whose  convent  is  attached  to  it ;  and  the  outside 
and  cloisters  are    worth   looking   at,  though  now 


248 


TARQUINIA. 


abandoned.  One  single  brother,  not  a  Franciscan, 
lives  there,  a  very  merry  and  good-natured  looking 
hermit,  whom  I  should  not  judge  to  be  troubled 
with  over-much  study,  or  cumbered  with  over- 
much learning. 

Several  of  the  churches  have  catherine-wheel 
windows,  with  doors  of  the  Saxon  arch,  which  have 
the  chevreuil  and  shark's  tooth. 

pattern  round  them.  St.  Mark's  is  the  church 
next  best  worth  seeing  to  Santa  Maria  di  Castello, 
and  it  contains  two  good  pictures,  one  I  believe  by 
Perugino.  The  church  in  which  Cardinal  Fesch 
and  Madame  Letitia  lie  I  have  already  mentioned, 
and  it  is  not  worth  a  visit.  Madame  Letitia  is 
enclosed  in  an  immense  sarcophagus  of  white  mar- 
ble, perfectly  plain,  and  without  a  letter  inscribed 
upon  it — not  even  "  The  mother  of  Napoleon," 
or  "  Letitia  Bonaparte," — both  being  doubtless 
fraught  with  some  very  mystical  and  dangerous 
meaning. 

Avolta  kindly  took  me  to  see  a  very  handsome 
church,  which  is  rebuilding  by  subscription,  and  is 
a  tribute  of  gratitude  to  the  Madonna  who  saved 
the  town  from  cholera  in  1835  and  1836.  Such 
tributes  and  gifts  to  the  churches,  of  pictures, 
tapestry,  new  altars,  or  silver  chandeliers,  are  yery 
common  in  Italy,  and  shame  us,  who  have  neither 
churches  nor  gifts  in  churches,  dedicated  to  God, 


>J 


*  • 


TARQUINIA. 


249 


In  gratitude  for  his  having  saved  us  from  war  in  our 
own  country,  when  all  Europe  was  desolated,  and 
from  suffering  by  the  cholera  like  Rome  and  Maples, 
or  for  any  other  of  his  innumerable  and  accumu- 
lated benefits.  When  I  think  how  such  a  propo- 
sition would  be  derided  and  spurned  at  in  our 
parliament,  I  do  not  wonder  at  the  Italian  idea 
concerning  us,  that  we  have  thrown  off  all  religion, 
and  know  nothing  of  Christianity  ;  and  I  can 
believe  what  I  have  heard  of  a  certain  popular  and 
shrewd  Roman  duchess,  who,  at  a  large  Italian 
party  in  her  own  house  one  night,  announced  that 
she  had  a  piece  of  news  to  communicate,  which  she 
was  sure  would  give  all  her  friends  great  pleasure. 
She  had  that  day  heard  an  Englishman  avow  that 
he  believed  in  a  God,  and  that  his  nation  in  general 
did  the  same.  In  short,  she  said,  "  they  are  not  so 
wholly  atheists  as  we  have  been  led  to  think,  and 
there  are  even  some  of  them  who  say  prayers,  and 
are  not  ashamed  to  be  thought  religious." 

Amongst  other  out-of-the-way  things,  Corneto 
contains  the  Bridewell,  or  House  of  Correction,  for 
the  clergy  of  the  Papal  States.  If  ever  it  becomes 
in  the  way,  i.  e.  a  place  of  resort  for  strangers,  I 
doubt  not  the  Bridewell  will  be  removed,  as  the  re- 
marks of  foreigners  might  not  always  be  either  plea- 
sant or  discreet.  There  were  thirty  of  these 
reverend  gentlemen  in  confinement  in  May  1839: 
some  for  murder,  some  for  forgery,  and  some  for 
other  crimes.  How  these  crimes  are  expiated  I  did 
not  learn  ;  whether  by  fine,  or  confinement  for  a 

M  5 


250 


TARQUINIA. 


term  of  years,  or  for  life.  A  very  zealous  Italian,  I 
should  think,  would  deny  the  existence  both  of  the 
crimes  and  the  persons.  It  is  only  by  accident  and 
inadvertency  that  a  stranger  can  ever  hear  the 
truth  of  these  things.  We  English,  however,  who 
fancy  that  the  Italian  clergy  never  are  punished, 
are  very  glad  to  ascertain  the  existence  of  such  a 

place. 

The  dreadful  inn  at  which  we  first  arrived  was 
once  the  Palazzo  Vitaleschi,  belonging  to  a  cardinal 
of  that  name ;  and  certainly  outside  it  has  a  very 
imposing  and  lordly  appearance,  being  a  splendid 
specimen  of  the  domestic  architecture  of  the  middle 
ages.  Its  lofty  front  with  Saracenic  gothic  windows 
and  rich  ornaments  is  beautiful,  and  the  effect  of  its 
court,  surrounded  by  stories  of  corridors,  very  fine  ; 
but  within  it  is  full  of  all  uncleanness,  and  it  was 
called  in  derision  Palazzaccio,  or  "  great  dirty 
palace."  I  would  certainly  advise  strangers  against 
this  Palazzaccio,  until  it  has  undergone  a  root  and 
branch  reform  ;  and  the  neat  little  inn  in  which 
we  passed  a  week,  has  only  four  tolerable  bed- 
rooms and  one  sitting-room  for  everybody,  in 
which  the  arms  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany, 
and  representatives  of  the  ladies  of  all  countries,  in 
costume,  make  a  great  figure.  It  is,  however,  pos- 
sible to  procure  very  clean  and  cheap  lodgings, 
with  respectable  and  intelligent  people  near,  which, 
to  those  who  can  speak  Italian,  I  should  recom- 
mend  as  the  preferable  plan.  Dinner  and  supper 
could  be  had  from  the  inn,  where  we  found  the 


b 


f 


TARQUINIA. 


251 


cook  excellent.     Avolta,  to  whom,  after  our  wan- 
derings, we  always  returned,  procured  us  admission 
a  second   time   to  Casa,  or  Palazzo   Bruschi,  the 
house  of  the  richest  family  here,  and  we  examined 
at  leisure  four  large  white  marble  slabs,  with  in- 
scriptions upon  them  in  excellent  Latin,  and  beau- 
tifully written.     They  were  found  along  with  many 
other  things  in  the  baths  or  thermae  of  Tarquinia, 
probably  altogether  a  Roman  work,  and  these  were 
of  the  time  of  Aurelian,  about  a.  d.  270,  in  honour 
of  the   praetor  and    proconsul,    who    restored    the 
baths.     Thence  we  went  to  the  Casa  or  Palazzo 
"  Falsacappa,"  another  noble  Cornetan  family  which 
has  given  a  cardinal  to  the  conclave.     In  the  court- 
yard were  broken  columns  and  heads,  and  pieces  of 
sculpture,  and  parts  of  friezes,  all  in  marble  ;  and 
in  the  house  we  saw  a  variety  of  articles,  some  of 
which  were  for  sale,  but  of  which  I  only  remember, 
as  particularly  fine,  some  bronze  paterae,  with  lions' 
heads  in  the  middle,  finely  executed,  and  exactly 
resembling  in  shape  and  size  those  paterae  which 
are  in  the  hands  of  the  monumental  figures.     There 
was  also  a  gold  ornament,  which  has  either  been 
worn  in  front  of  the  mantle,  or  has  fastened  it  like 
a  sort  of  button  on  the  shoulder.     It  was  the  size  of 
a  small  watch,  and  had  on  the  upper  part  a  disk  of 
filagree,  like  a  star,  which  turned  round,  and  was 
most  delicately  and  ingeniously  wrought.     Micali 
mentions  eleven  pieces  or  shields,  exactly  like  the 
bronzes  we  here  saw,  which  were  all  found  upon  the 
walls  of  the  same  tomb  in  Tarquinia ;  some  were 


// 


252 


TARQUINIA. 


'•! 


gilt,  and  some  had  composition  eyes  in  the  centre ; 
heads,  made  of  white  and  shining  enamel,  with 
black  pupils.  He  does  not  say  what  became  of 
them,  bat  the  tomb  had  been  plundered  before  these 
were  taken  out,  and  a  broken  stone  had  remained 
in  it  with  an  Etruscan  inscription. 

Avolta  next  took  us  to  see  the  gardens  of  the 
Bruschi  family,  a  little  way  out  of  the  town.  There 
are  two  of  them  quite  distinct  in  character — the  one 
upon  the  hill,  and  the  other  below  it;  in  both  of 
which  the  liberal  proprietor  allows  his  townspeople 
to  walk  when  they  please,  and  he  delights  in  seeing 
the  gay  and  well-behaved  crowds  who  take  ad- 
vantage of  his  permission  on  fete  days,  and  on  the 
summer  evenings.  I  must  remark,  that  his  kind- 
ness is  never  abused,  his  flowers  are  not  gathered, 
his  fruit  is  not  stolen,  his  vegetable  beds  are  not 
trampled  on,  his  shrubs  are  not  broken,  and  his 
peacocks,  here  called  "  Uccello  di  Faraone,"  bird 
of  Pharaoh,  are  neither  chased  nor  stoned.  In  the 
lower  garden,  which  is  not  so  pretty  as  the  upper 
one,  we  came  suddenly  upon  two  columns  of  white 
and  gray  marble,  I  should  guess  fully  eighteen 
inches  in  diameter,  and  from  eight  to  ten  feet  in 
length  :  they  were  perfectly  smooth,  and  beside 
them  lay  two  others  cannellated,  and  three  most 
richly  worked  Corinthian  capitals.  Roman  they 
undoubtedly  were,  and  they  had  come  from  the 
baths  of  Tarquinia.  As  we  walked  on  through  this 
extensive  and  varied  garden,  we  came  to  a  small 
piece  of  water  full  of  gold  and  silver  fish,  at  the  head 


:> 


rv// 


J^ 


TARQUINIA. 


253 


of  which  I  saw  an  immense  stone  Egyptian  lion  ;  I 
should  think  it  was  from  five  to  six  feet  long,  and 
three  feet  high,  but  I  saw  it  with  such  surprise  and 
admiration,  that  it  is  very  possible  my  eyes  may 
have  magnified  the  wonder.  The  head  has  that 
calm  and  mild,  yet  firm  and  commanding  expres- 
sion, so  peculiar  to  Egypt ;  and  the  neck  has  been 
injured  with  scratches  or  ridges,  as  if  some  one  had 
filed  it  or  used  it  for  a  block.  Whilst  I  was  ex- 
amining this,  Avolta  came  up,  and  told  me  that  this 
lion  was  Etruscan,  found  in  a  part  of  old  Tarquinia, 
which  an  industrious  peasant  had  appropriated  to 
himself  as  a  corn-field,  and  over  which  he  had,  year 
after  year,  dragged  his  plough.  He  was  so  much 
incommoded  by  one-large  black  stone,  thinly  covered 
with  soil,  that  he  resolved  to  dig  it  out,  and  forth 
sprang  this  lion  to  the  light  of  day. 

We  also  visited  the  town-hall  where  the  muni- 
cipal meetings  are  held,  and  from  which  thegonfalo- 
niere  was  summoned  to  our  aid  on  the  evenins:  of 
our  arrival.  In  one  of  the  suite  of  public  rooms 
the  frescos  on  the  wall  betray  at  once  the  pride  and 
ignorance  of  the  Cornetans  who  lived  between  two 
and  three  centuries  ago.  They  here  assume  to 
themselves  an  identity  with  ancient  Corytus,  and, 
on  the  authority  of  Virgil,  found  a  claim  to  consider 
Rome  as  a  Cornetan  colony. 

"  Atque  equidem  memini  (fama  est  obscurior  annis) 
Auruncos  ita  ferre  senes  his  ortus  ut  agris 
Dardanus  Idaeas  Phrygise,  penetrant  ad  urbes 
ThreVciamque  Samum,  quae  nunc  Samothracia  fertur  : 


IfJ 


^\ 


254  TARQUINIA. 

Hinc  ilium  Corythi  Tyrrhena  ab  sede  profectum 
Aurea  nunc  solio  stellantis  regia  caeli, 
Accipit,  et  numerum  divorum  altaribus  addit/* 

^n.  lib.  vii.  205. 

"  I  call  to  mind,  but  time  the  tale  has  worn, 
Th'  Aurunci  told  that  Dardanus,  though  bom 
On  Latian  plains,  yet  sought  the  Phrygian  shore. 
And  Samothracia,  Samos  called  before  ; 
From  Tuscan  Corytus  he  claimed  his  birth  : 
But  after,  when  exempt  from  mortal  earth. 
From  thence  ascended  to  his  kindred  skies 
A  god,  and  as  a  god  augments  their  sacrifice." 

"  Surge,  age,  et  haec  laetus  longaevo  dicta  parenti 
Haud  dubitanda  refer  :  Corytum  terrasque  requirat 
Ausonias ;  Dictfea  negat  tibi  Jupiter  arva." 

^n.  lib.  iii.  169. 

"  Rise,  and  thy  sire  with  these  glad  tidings  greet. 
Search  Corytus,  for  Jove  denies  thee  Crete." 

Considering  Corneto  and  Corytus  to  be  identical, 
though  Corneto  was  never  heard  of  till  ages  after 
the  ^neid  was  written,  and  Corytus  is  supposed  by 
all  writers  to  be  Cortona,  they  regarded  Dardanus 
as  a  Cornetan  prince,  Troy  as  a  daughter  colony, 
and  Alba  Longa  and  mighty  Rome  as  remote 
descendants.  They  accordingly  blazoned  proudly 
on  their  walls  a  pedigree  deducing  Julius  Caesar 
master  of  the  Roman  world  from  a  line  of  Corne- 
tans,  through  the  intermediate  links  of  Romulus, 
Numitor,  Ascanius,  ^neas,  and  Dardanus. 

«  Truly,  where  ignorance  is  bliss,  'tis  folly  to  be  wise." 

This  reminded  me  of  the  famous  pedigree  of  Sir 
Thomas  Urquhart  of  Cromarty,  wherein  he  traced 


'} 


TARQUIJSIA. 


255 


his  descent,  by  means  of  the  same  similarities  of 
name,  through  most  of  the  heroes  of  antiquity, 
back  to  Adam.  The  Cornetans  might  have  gratified 
their  desire  of  being  connected  on  vantage  ground 
with  Rome,  while  at  the  same  time  they  might  have 
observed  historical  accuracy,  if  they  had  deduced 
their  own  descent  as  an  offset  from  old  Tarquinia, 
which  gave  kings  and  laws  to  Rome  during  the 
most  splendid  period  of  her  earlier  history.  But 
enough  of  this.  One  of  the  frescos  represents 
rather  more  truly  the  reception  of  a  Pope,  Clement 
VII.,  I  believe,  by  the  Cornetans,  when  he  was  ob- 
liged to  fly  from  Rome  in  the  reign  of  Charles 
the  Fifth. 

One  of  our  mornings  we  devoted  to  looking  over 
the  still  remaining  part  of  Cavaliere  Manzi's  once 
choice  collection  of  vases  and  other  objects  found  in 
his  scavi,  and  which  are  for  sale.  The  pieces  of 
such  as  are  broken  are  here  cemented  together,  but 
in  no  way  restored,  and  not  even  united  with  any 
skill,  so  that  no  one  can  be  deceived  as  to  what  he 
buys;  and  though  we  thought  the  prices  very  high, 
and  found  every  adjunct  of  form,  or  size,  or  colour, 
or  quality  of  the  clay,  or  subject,  or  inscription, 
taken  into  consideration,  still  the  broken  vases, 
because  unrestored,  were  not  charged  like  the  whole 
ones.*     There  were  a  few  that  we  wished  for  very 

*  In  Rome  scarcely  a  difference  is  made  in  price  between  the  entire 
vases  and  the  broken  ones,  partly  on  account  of  the  expense  incurred 
in  mending  them,  and  partly  because  they  are  esteemed  equally 
genuine. 


t'   ■ 

I 


I 


256 


TARQUINTA. 


much,  but  the  person  who  has  charge  of  them  was 
so  unreasonable,  that  we  could  not  make  a  bar- 
gain. There  were  several  valuable  fragments  of 
bronzes  of  various  kinds,  speech],  shields,  and  other 
things,  and  three  glass  vases,  very  small,  and  very 
rude  in  comparison  of  Cav.  Campana's  in  Rome, 
but  of  the  same  description,  and  of  the  same  colours, 
blue,  white,  and  yellow,  semi-transparent,  and  ar- 
rano^ed  with  art.  Cavaliere  Manzi  had,  I  under- 
stood,  a  very  valuable  collection  in  Rome  of  objects 
found  at  Tarquinia  ;  and,  from  all  we  heard,  it  is 
a  cause  of  deep  regret,  and  great  public  loss,  that 
there  should  be  no  museum  at  Corneto  where  one 
might  see  specimens  of  all  the  various  beautiful 
and  curious  objects  taken  out  of  the  tombs.  The 
public-spirited  Avolta  regretted  it  as  much  as  we 
did,  but  had  been  too  much  discouraged,  and  too 
little  supported,  in  what  he  had  already  done,  to 
set  it  on  foot ;  and  I  fancy  no  one  else  there  has 
at  once  the  power  and  the  will  for  such  an  un- 
dertaking. 

We  thence  proceeded  to  the  shop  of  an  old  widow 
whose  foi'mer  husband  had  been  particularly  fortu- 
nate in  securino:  to  himself  a  number  of  scarabei 
and  jacinths  from  Tarquinia  when  the  present  exca- 
vations were  first  commenced.  He  had  made  a 
great  deal  of  money,  and  a  i'ew  of  his  stock  still  re- 
mained. On  a  former  visit  we  had  seen  three 
curious  scarabei,  two  of  sardonyx,  and  one  of  black 
agate.  The  agate  had  on  it  an  Egyptian  device — 
"  Isis  in  a  grove  of  Lotus ;"  the  same  style,  but  not 


;> 


> 


TARQUINIA. 


257 


nearly  so  fine  as  the  plasma  di  smeraldo  which  I 
have  mentioned ;  and  one  of  the  others,  the  device 
of  which  was  either  a  Triga  or  a  Cerberus,  had 
seven  couches  or  layers  of  different  colours  in  the 
stone  ;  perhaps  I  ought  to  say  seven  different  shades 
of  colour,  as  they  were  only  varieties  of  red  and 
white,  but  the  arrangement  of  them  was  rare.  We 
could  not  persuade  this  old  woman  to  let  us  have 
them  at  a  reasonable  price  before,  and  now  we  re- 
turned in  the  hope  that  she  still  had  them,  and 
would  be  willing  to  accept  of  such  a  sum  as  we 
could  have  got  them  for  in  Rome ;  but  the  Prince 
of  Sulmona,  now  Borghese,  had  been  before  us,  and 
had  either  a  more  winning  tongue  than  ourselves, 
or  had  not  thought  the  price  unreasonable.  The 
Dowager  Princess  had  a  necklace  of  scarabei,  very 
richly  set  in  gold.  The  old  woman  was  very  glad 
to  tell  us  that  she  no  longer  had  these  scarabei, 
but  she  brought  us  down  two  or  three  much  broken, 
and  one  jacinth,  w^hich  had  formerly  been  in  an 
ear-ring,  but  which  she  could  not  pair,  and  she 
asked  double  what  old  Vescovali  would  have  done, 
and  would  not  take  less.  One  scarabeus  had  no 
back,  and  the  other  no  face !  We  accordingly 
left  them,  and  I  would  advise  all  English  travellers, 
when  they  have  seen  any  object  of  the  kind  which 
they  desire  to  possess,  and  are  asked  enormous 
prices,  to  get  some  dealer  in  Rome  to  purchase 
it  for  them,  to  whom  it  will  be  sold  w^ith  equal 
readiness,  and  from  w^hom  no  such  sum  will  be 
demanded.     I  have    already    mentioned    Pucci    at 


w 


258 


TARQUINIA. 


i 


Civita  Vecchia,  as  a  very  moderate  person,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  that  he  would  readily  undertake 
such  a  commission,  should  it  not  be  convenient  to 
do  it  from  Rome. 

I  think  I  have  now  detailed  all  that  I  can  remem- 
ber of  Corneto  and  Tarquinia,  likely  to  be  useful  or 
interesting  to  travellers  in  general.  The  air  of  the 
town  and  upon  the  heights  is  good,  and  the  country 
pretty.  A  thousand  scudi  per  annum  is  a  large 
fortune  there,  enabling  a  man  to  keep  a  carriage 
and  have  every  comfort.  The  costume  of  the  men 
is  the  same  as  in  Rome,  and  the  women  wear  the 
black  or  white  veils  upon  their  heads,  like  those  of 
the  north  of  Italy.  The  town  contains,  besides 
what  I  have  mentioned,  two  convents  for  women 
and  four  for  men.  The  mallow  here  is  cultivated 
as  a  shrub,  and  is  so  useful  that  Avolta  said,  were 
it  less  common,  it  would  be  sold  for  its  weight  in 
gold.  The  olive  is  very  extensively  cultivated,  but 
does  not  thrive,  and  is  only  reckoned  to  yield  a  full 
crop  one  year  in  three.  Corneto,  besides  being 
the  head-quarters  from  which  to  visit  the  surround- 
ing country,  will  well  repay  a  stay  of  three  days 
for  itself.  Unfortunately,  the  roads  from  it  to  Tus- 
cania,  Vulci,  Castel  d'Asso,  and  the  other  ancient 
ruins,  are  nearly  impassable  for  carriages,  and  the 
only  accommodation  at  present  to  be  had  for  those 
who  do  not  ride,  is  one  four-seated  open  carriage 
which  will  not  take  more  than  three  people,  for 
the  driver  occupies  one  place  ;  and  as  this  carriage 
has  no  springs,   those  who  attempt  it  must  make 


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'•«; 


TARQUINIA. 


259 


up  their  minds  to  be  shaken  to  pieces.  All  this, 
however,  a  few  years  will  surely  remedy,  and  I  say 
to  my  reader  again  and  again,  go  and  help  forward 
the  reformation.  The  Cornetans  are  very  proud 
of  their  country,  and  very  fond  of  their  municipal 
form  of  government ;  but  they  are  at  present  smart- 
ing under  the  idea  that  they  are  neglected,  or  at 
any  rate  not  favoured  by  the  Holy  See,  and  that 
their  former  fidelity  is  no  longer  estimated,  and 
their  long  and  faithful  services  are  beginning  to 
be  forgotten.  Perhaps  Tarquinia,  though  she  can 
rise  no  more,  may  help  to  replace  the  crown  of 
the  maremma  upon  the  head  of  Corneto ;  may  be 
the  nurse  of  her  restored  fortunes,  and  the  mother 
of  her  future  prosperity. 

The  site  of  Tarquinia  is  now  called  Turchina,  the 
name  which  it  probably  always  bore  in  the  mouths 
of  the  peasantry,  and  the  necropolis  is  called  Monte- 
rozzi,  or  the  rough  mounts,  from  the  rough  way  in 
which  it  has  been  destroyed. 

Since  this  was  written,  I  have  seen  Sir  William 
Gell's  work  ''  on  Rome  and  its  Vicinity,"  which 
supplies  the  following  additional  information: 

"  The  city  of  Etruria  most  connected  with  Rome 
in  early  times  was  Tarquinia,  between  which  and 
Rome  there  must  have  been  a  carriage-road,  even 
before  the  reign  of  Tarquinius  Priscus.  The  date 
of  its  foundation  was  1513  B.C.  Others,  however, 
say  432  before  Rome,  or  1186  b.  c,  which  is  the 
more  probable.  The  stone  employed  in  the  build- 
injr  of  the  walls  is  calcareous,  but  yet  so  exceedingly 

10 


260 


TARQUINIA. 


soft,  that  it  is,  perhaps,  more  easily  cut  than  the 
common  tufo,  so  that  no  argument  can  be  founded 
on  any  similarity  between  their  construction  and 
that  of  the  Pelasgic  cities.  The  walls  are  parallelo- 
grams, and  are  almost  all  constructed  with  soft 
stone.  Very  few  of  the  blocks  retain  their  original 
position,  but  are  chiefly  to  be  found  under  the 
precipices,  or  scattered  about  on  the  declivities. 
Irregularity  of  construction  is,  however,  percep- 
tible in  some  parts,  as  is  evident  from  the  subjoined 
specimen,  taken  from  what  was  once  the  citadel  or 
palace 


"  Corneto  was  probably  either  the  Cort  Nossa,  or 
the  Cort  Enebra  of  Livy,  commonly  read  Cortuosa 
and  Contenebra,  two  forts  of  the  Tarquinienses.  Pos- 
sibly Cort  may  mean  a  castle.  One  of  them  stood 
probably  upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  stream. 

"  Tarquinia  is  placed  upon  a  nearly  flat  or  table 
hill,  shaped  like  the  letter  L,  the  top  of  the  letter 
being  to  the  west,  and  the  end  of  it  to  the  north. 
At  these  two  points  were  two  castles, — Civitella  at 
the  west,  and  Castellina  at  the  north.  The  site  of 
the  latter  is  now  occupied  by  a  ruined  convent. 
Tarquinia  is  defended  by  a  high  precipice  round 
nearly  the  whole  of  its  circuit,  so  that  walls  were 
scarcely  necessary.     Its  gates  were  apparently  six, 


TARQUINIA. 


261 


one  of  which  on  the  north  side  seems  to  have 
looked  towards  Toscanella,  (anciently  Tuscania,) 
with  a  sort  of  mound  and  parapets  which  formed  an 
approach  across  a  ravine  ;  a  third  on  the  east  might 
have  been  of  less  consequence  ;  a  fourth  on  the  same 
side  must  have  been  that  of  Norcia,  an  Etruscan 
town,  more  anciently  called  Orkle  (a  name  perhaps 
corrupted  from  Hercules)  and  Orcia  :  a  fifth  was  to 
the  south,  and  its  road  ran  along  the  valley  to  the 
west,  towards  Corneto  and  Gravisca  ;  a  sixth  was  in 
the  centre  of  the  southern  w^all.  A  paved  road  still 
perfect,  which  must  have  been  the  sacred  w^ay,  or 
the  road  to  the  necropolis,  runs  from  this  south 
gate,  and  joins  that  of  the  valley  at  right  angles  ; 
it  then  probably  ascended  the  opposite  eminence, 
now  called  Monte  Rozzi,  one  of  the  most  singular 
and  interesting  spots  in  Europe. 

"  This  hill  lies  in  a  direction  parallel  to  the  city, 
in  a  line  nearly  east  and  west,  and  on  its  summit 
are  seen  three  hundred  tumuli  or  more,  some  of 
which,  upon  being  opened,  were  found  to  cover 
Etruscan  tombs,  and  to  contain  invaluable  and,  up 
to  that  moment,  unsuspected  treasures  ;  being 
adorned  with  paintings  which  serve  to  throw  much 
light  upon  the  antiquities  of  Etruria.  Some  of 
these  tumuli  are  still  loftv  mounds;  a  sort  of  breast- 
wall  of  stone  may  be  observed  encircling  others ; 
some  are  degraded  by  time  into  mere  hillocks,  and 
there  might  have  been  others,  now  wholly  undis- 
tinguishable.  Their  contents  are  eminently  useful  in 
affording  information  relative  to  the  dresses,  cus- 
toms, games,  and  sepulture  of  a  lost  nation,  and 


262 


TARQUINIA, 


many  of  the  personages  represented  in  the  sub- 
terraneous chambers  have  their  names  written  in 
Etruscan  characters. 

"  The  first  of  these  tombs  was  discovered  during 
the  last  century,  and  its  figures  copied  by  Mr. 
Byres,  a  British  painter  and  cicerone,  residing  at 
Rome.  These  have  been  published  by  Micali,  but 
still  are  but  little  known :  (it  is  the  Grotta  del  Cardi- 
nale.)  One  would  almost  suspect  that  the  figures 
had  been  improved  by  the  modern  draftsmen  into 
Grecian  models  and  proportions,  for  many  of  them 
are  positively  the  same  as  those  represented  in  the 
Phigaleian  marbles,  and  particularly  the  group  in 
which  one  warrior  prevents  another  from  killing 
his  wounded  foe.  Ictinus,  who  built  the  temple  of 
Phigaleia,  lived  about  the  year  430  b.  c.  Now 
Tarquinia  was  at  that  period  still  flourishing,  and 
the  communication  between  it  and  Greece  must 
have  been  frequent  during  the  two  centuries 
which  had  elapsed  since  the  emigration  of  De- 
maratus.  The  subjects  of  the  frieze  at  BasssB 
were  those  most  generally  adopted  in  the  orna- 
mental structures  of  Greece,  and  there  was  suflfi- 
cient  time  for  them  to  be  copied  in  Etruria  before 
the  fall  of  Tarquinia,  which  took  place  previous  to 
that  of  Vulci,  or  earlier  than  473  u.  c,  or  about  280 
B.  c.  In  the  tomb  first  opened  at  Corneto  was  an 
inscription  in  Etruscan  characters — "  Atha  Felus 
Festronial  Puia  Arth  ....  a  Falce  xix.'^ 

*/\IV^*>J41H><lt<33'^V>J33  -^04 
XIX-a>>4A3-A---0<]A 


TARQUINIA. 


263 


"  The  soil  is  so  remarkably  shallow  as  scarcely  to 
cover  the  rock  beneath,  a  species  of  sandy  and  soft 
calcareous  stone  called  by  the  people  of  the  country 
pietra  arenaria,  in  which  the  chambers  were  ex- 
cavated, a  sufficient  thickness  being  left  to  form  a 
roof,  and  sustain  the  superincumbent  tumulus. 
The  tumuli  seem  to  have  been  bounded  by  a  low 
wall,  and  the  whole  resembles  that  which  Pausa- 
nias  calls  the  Tumulus  of  iEpytus  in  Arcadia? 
of  Pelasgic  construction,  only  that  the  wall  en- 
closing the  latter  is  of  hard  and  irregular  blocks  of 
limestone. 

"  The  tombs  have  been  pillaged  of  many  of  their 
vases,  arms,  gold  ornaments,  and  shields,  without 
being  subjected  to  any  examination,  drawing,  or 
description  ;  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  some  anti- 
quities decidedly  Egyptian,  said  to  have  been  found 
at  Corneto,  were  really  discovered  there  or  not. 
Certain  geese,  alternating  with  little  figures  in  the 
attitude  of  prayer,  and  forming  a  border  in  fine  gold, 
seem  evidently  Egyptian. 

"  The  chambers  in  the  tumuli  of  Tarquinia  are  all 
nearly  alike  in  size  and  shape.  They  are  about 
nine  feet  high,  seventeen  wide,  and  eighteen  long. 
One  of  the  tumuli  opened  in  1828  is  upon  the  edge 
of  the  hill  and  towards  the  north.  Its  roof  is  the 
natural  rock,  and  has  been  split  by  an  earthquake. 
The  door  is  more  than  six  feet  high,  and  is  four  feet 
wide.  It  is  singular  that  the  men  represented  in 
these  tombs  are  all  coloured  red,  exactly  as  in  the 
Egyptian    paintings    in    the  tombs  of  the  Theban 


264 


TARQUINIA. 


TARQUINIA. 


265 


kings.  Their  eyes  are  very  long,  tlieir  hair  bushy 
and  black,  their  limbs  lank  and  slender,  and  the 
facial  line,  instead  of  running,  like  that  of  the  Greeks, 
nearly  perpendicular,  projects  remarkably,  so  that 
in  the  outline  of  their  face  they  bear  a  strong  resem- 
blance to  the  negro  or  the  Ethiopian  figures  of 
Egyptian  paintings.  They  wear  round  their  ankles 
rings  as  ornaments,  and  armlets  on  their  arms. 
Shawls  of  oriental  patterns  are  also  worn  by  both 
male  and  female.  Many  of  those  engaged  in  the 
sports  have  only  a  wrapper  of  linen  round  their 
loins.  Some  have  boots  of  green  leather  reaching 
behind  to  the  calf  of  the  leg. 

"  It  does  not  seem  precisely  known  at  what 
period  Tarquinia  was  destroyed.  The  Romans  are 
said  purposely  to  have  burnt  everything  appertain- 
ing to  the  records  of  Etruria,  and  circumstances 
seem  to  confirm  this."  (These  records  told  tales 
too  much  against  themselves,  and  too  contrary  to 
those  fables  of  glory,  invincibility,  and  magnanimity, 
which  they  hoped  to  palm  upon  posterity  for  his- 
tory.) Some  have  thought  that  it  fell  soon  after 
Veii,  A.  R.  359  ;  but  at  all  events  it  must  have  been 
destroyed  before  the  triumph  of  Titus  Corucauius 
over  Vulci,  a.  r.  473, — a  neighbouring  city  further 
removed  from  Rome,  which  could  not  well  be 
reached  while  Tarquinia  remained.  In  the  year  of 
Rome  401,  says  Livy,  vii.  15,  et  seq.,  the  Romans 
revenged  the  cruelty  of  the  Tarquinienses,  who  had 
slain  three  hundred  and  seven  Roman  prisoners, 
by  the  total  destruction  of  everything  Etruscan  in 


their  city  ;  and  three  hundred  and  fifty-eight  of  the 
most  noble  of  the  inhabitants  were  flogged  to  death 
in  the  forum  !  In  404  a.  r.  the  Romans,  having 
vanquished  the  Tarquinienses,  granted  them  a  forty 
years'  peace ;  in  456  a.  r.  they  gained  another 
triumph  over  the  Etruscans,  and  this  probably 
sealed  the  fate  of  Tarquinia,  reducing  it  from 
that  period  to  the  condition  of  a  Roman  colony  or 
municipium. 

"  It  cannot  be  imagined  that  the  tumuli  of  Tar- 
quinia were  formed  after  the  conquest  of  the  city  by 
the  Romans,  nor  even  during  its  decline ;  so  that 
the  date  of  the  latest  would  be  as  much  as  three 
hundred  years  b.  c.  The  latest  of  the  tumuli  of  Veii, 
which  are  of  the  same  character,  and  from  which 
the  most  interesting  discoveries  may  be  expected, 
may  be  dated  one  hundred  years  earlier.  An  asser- 
tion of  the  learned  Niebuhr,  that  the  Etruscans,  of 
all  the  Grecian  games,  practised  only  those  of 
chariot-races  and  boxing,  is  amply  refuted  by  the 
pictures  in  these  tombs  ;  for  in  one  single  chamber 
we  find  wrestling,  leaping,  running,  boxing,  chariot- 
races,  horse-races,  cudgel-playing,  and  riding  at  the 
ring.  It  must,  however,  be  remembered  that  these 
tombs  were  not  discovered  till  after  the  publication 
of  his  history.  At  Tarquinia  more  may  be  learned 
of  this  mysterious  people  than  in  any  other  of  the 
cities  of  Etruria,  because  it  has  remained  more  free 
from  Roman  innovations.  Tarquinia,  Veii,  and 
Caere,  entombed  their  magnates  in  tumuli,  and  in 
excavations  in  the  rocks." 


N 


»\ 


266 


TARQUINIA. 


TARQUINIA. 


267 


I  have  given  all  these  extracts  from  Gell,  because 
he  is  an  authority  never  to  be  slighted,  and  my  copy 
of  the  work  is  dated  1834;  but  I   presume  this  ac- 
count was  written    in    1288,  and  many  things  have 
since  been  changed.     No  tumuli  now  exist,  and  only 
two  circular  walls  which  mark  the  site  of  any  such, 
thouo-h    it    would   seem  that  the  Grotto  del    Car- 
dinale   had  formerly  been  ornamented    with    such 
a  covering,  and  perhaps  also  the  Grotto  del  Ba- 
rone,  and  the  Grotto  Verso   il    Mare.     Gell  says, 
that  when  he  wrote,  the  Roman    government  had 
prohibited  any  of  these  tombs  from  being  copied  ; 
an    order   singularly  at  variance  with    their    utter 
neglect  of  them  in  every  other  particular,  and  which 
I  must  suppose  it  was  found  impossible  to  enforce. 
We  could,  indeed,  purchase  no  drawings  of  them, 
excepting  two,  but  one  more  by  a  Russian  artist  was 
given  me,  and  we  copied  and  sketched  many  little 
thino-sin  these  tombs  without  anything  being  said  to 
us;  and  had  I  at  that  time  thought  of  publishing  an 
account  of  them,  we  could  with  the  utmost  facility 
have  copied  the  whole.      Avolta  would  have  given 
me  the  old  drawings  of  the  temple  of  Iside,  could  he 
have  found  them  ;  but  they  still  exist,  though    in 
private   hands.     The  facial  line,  mentioned  by  Gell, 
is  certainly  a  mistake,  except  in  the  case  of  the  evil 
genii,  who  are  represented  with  negro  features ;  all 
the  others  are  in  either  the  almost  straight  Egyptian 
or    the  straight   Greek.     Gell  gives  the  following 
sketch  of  one  of  the  tumuli,  the  remaining  walls  of 
which  we  saw,  but  the  structure  of  which,  to  the 


remams  no  more. 


r 


disgrace  of  those  who   ought  to  have  preserved  it. 

He  says  it  was  constructed  on 
the  same  principle  as  the  trea- 
suries of  Atreus  and  Minyas  in 
Greece,  by  stones  approaching 
each  other,  and  that  the  dia- 
meter of  the  dome  was  eighteen 

feet,  and  its  height  almost  the 
same. 

The  figures  in  the   tombs  which    we   saw,  so  far 
from  having  been  improved   by  modern  draftsmen, 
are  provokingly  mangled   in   the  copies— I  should 
say  are  common-placed  and  grotesqued,     Gell's  mea- 
surement of  the  chambers  is  too  large,   except  in  a 
few  instances.     The  boots  of  green    leather   must 
mean  blue — at  least  we   saw   no    green    colour    in 
any  Etruscan  tomb,  and   I  think  that  the  blue   has 
appeared  green,  because  it  was  seen  by  torch-light. 
It  has  been  suggested  to  me  that  perhaps  the  green 
named  by  Gell  and  others,  was  composed  originally 
of  blue  and  yellow,  and  that  the  yellow   had  faded 
out  of  the  colour:  but  I  think  not,  for  the  yellow 
by   itself    appeared    as   fast   as  any    of  the    other 
colours. 

The  painted  tomb  of  which  Avolta  told  us,  con- 
taining an  elephant,  could  not  be  earlier  than  a.  r. 
474,  about  three  hundred  years  before  Christ,  be- 
cause elephants  were  first  introduced  into  Italy  by 
Pyrrhus,  at  which  time  the  Tarquinians  assisted  the 
Romans  against  them.  These  animals,  being  wholly 
unknown,  were  called  by  them  "  Boves  Lucas,"  as 

N   2 


268 


TARQUINIA, 


being  first  seen  at  the  battle  of  the  Siris  in  Luca- 
nia ;  and  I  feel  no  doubt  that  the  man  in  whose 
tomb  the  painting  was  found  vvas  the  captain  of  the 
Tarquinian  band  upon  that  field. 

The  sketch  of  the  cone  at  Tarquinia  is  the  exact 
form  of  the  present  shepherd's  hut,  so  often  seen  in 
the  environs  of  Rome,  and  is  what  I  meant  when  I 
said  at  Veii,  that  their  huts  were  the  living  repre- 
sentations of  many  an  ancient  grave. 


•269 


I 


I 


CHAPTER  V. 


VULCI. 

TOUR    TO    MUSIGNANO,   VULCI,    AND    PONTE    LABADIA. 

The  attention  of  the  curious  in  Etruscan  antiquity 
among  our  Roman  friends  had  recently  been  turned 
to  the  extraordinary  discovery  made  about  this  time 
by  the  Prince  of  Canino  at  Vulci,  of  tombs  con- 
taining a  number  of  objects  wholly  Egyptian.  The 
connexion  of  the  polished  nations  of  remote  anti- 
quity with  each  other,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
speculations  of  the  present  day ;  and  each  fresh  dis- 
covery leads  us  to  suppose,  that  long  before  the 
people  of  the  ancient  world  were  bound  together 
under  the  leaden  yoke  of  universal  empire,  very 
distant  lands  were  intimately  united  by  coloniza- 
tion, commerce,  and  political  alliance. 

In  the  Egyptian  museum  at  Florence  we  saw  a 
small  china  vase,  which  we  thought  had  just  been 
removed  from  a  drawing  room  chimney-piece,  but 


270 


VULCI. 


I 


which  Professor  Roselini  assured  us  be  had  him- 
self taken  from  one  of  the  tombs  of  the  ancient 
Pharaohs,  which  bore  all  the  marks  of  never  having 
been  previously  opened.  On  one  side  there  is  a 
blue  flower,  and  on  the  other  a  Chinese  character, 
which  was  thus  translated  by  Mr.  Davis,  the  dis- 
tinguished Chinese  scholar:  ''The  flower  opens, 
and  lo  a  new  year ;"  and  was  pronounced  to  be 
in  no  way  different  from  the  modern  writing  of 
the  celestial  empire.  In  the  same  museum  I  saw 
a  Scythian  war-chariot  which  had  been  taken  by 
Roselini  from  the  Egyptian  tomb  of  one  who 
probably  was  a  bold  captain  in  the  army  of  Ra- 
meses  the  Great,  and  who  had  brought  it  home 
as  a  trophy  of  distant  Asiatic  victory.  Among 
our  Etruscan  scarabei  there  is  one  of  large  size 
and  great  beauty  from  Chiusi,  formed  of  root  of 
emerald,  and  of  which  the  intaglio  is  a  grove  of 
Lotus,  wherein  stand  the  divinities  Isis  and  Horus, 
represented  in  the  best  Egyptian  style ;  and  we 
narrowly  missed  acquiring  another,  which  was  of 
still  more  uncommon  value,  as  on  it,  by  the  side 
of  a  female  warrior,  destroying  a  prostrate  foe, 
there  was  a  royal  cartouche  filled  with  hieroglyphics. 
I  mention  these  precious  gems  as  a  strong  link  of 
evidence  connecting  Egypt  with  Etruria,  for  there 
can  be  no  doubt,  from  the  shape,  that  the  stones 
are  Etruscan,  while  the  intaglios  are  as  assuredly 
Egyptian. 

We  were  told  that  the  contents  of  these  newly- 
discovered  Egyptian  tombs  had  been  removed    to 


^\ 


VULCI. 


271 


i- 


Musio-nano,  the   Prince   of  Canino's   country-seat, 
and  thither  we  accordingly  resolved  to  go.     About 
thirty  years  ago,  the    principality  of   Canino    and 
Musignano  belonged  to  the  papal  domain.     Pope 
Pius  VII.  offered  it  for  sale  to  Lucien  Bonaparte, 
and,  it  is  said,  pressed  him  to  purchase  it,  because  he 
had  a  regard  for  him,   and  felt  persuaded  that  it 
would  prove  a  good  bargain.     It  would  almost  ap- 
pear that  he  had  a   presentiment  of  the  extraordi- 
nary treasures  which  were  so  soon  to  be  discovered 
there,   and  which  had  not  long  been    opened    up 
before  they  yielded  forty  thousand  louis.     Lucien 
accepted  the  offer,  became  proprietor  of  Canino,  and 
was  thereupon  created  a  Principe  Romano.     About 
fifteen  years  ago,  when  the  sepulchres  of  ancient 
Etruria  were  first  generally  examined  and  began  to 
be  emptied  of  their  magnificent  contents,  it  was  dis- 
covered that  the  newly  acquired  property  of  Lucien 
Bonaparte  possessed  more  than  a  common  share  of 
subterranean  wealth.  Some  of  the  most  superb  vases 
in  the  world  were  excavated  by  him,  besides  gold 
and  jewelled  ornaments  of  the  most  exquisite  work- 
manship, and  bronze  images,  mirrors,  and  utensils 
of  great  rarity  and  beauty.     It  is  truly  unfortunate 
that  his  pecuniary  circumstances  did  not  admit  of 
his  preserving  all  that  he  found,  and  thus  forming  a 
great  Bonaparte   Etruscan  museum ;    for  it  would 
have  been  the  most  splendid  and  unique  collection 
in  Europe,  far  surpassing  that  at   Naples   in    the 
deep  interest   attached  to  countless   antiquity,  and 
to  the  mystery  of  an   extinct  people,   the  manner 


:1! 


\ 


272 


VULCI. 


of  whose  existence  is  now   only  to  be  learned  from 
their  graves.     But,  alas!    the  precious  possessions 
of  Central  Etruria  have  been  dispersed  over  Eu- 
rope  among    the  museums  of  sovereigns   and  the 
cabinets  of  the  curious  ;  and  the  Pope,  the  King  of 
Bavaria,  M.  Durand,  the  Duke  de  Blacas,  and  the 
British  Museum,  possess  treasures,  which,  had  they 
been  preserved   where  they  were  discovered,  would 
have  made  Musignano  the  place  of  pilgrimage  to 
all    those   who   inquired   after  the  religious    disci- 
pline of  Tages,  or  the  political  constitution  of  Tar- 
chon.      I    had    heard,  in    particular,  much  of  the 
beauty  of  the  gold  and  jewelled  ornaments  belong- 
ing to  Lucien,   and   that,  a   few  winters  ago,  the 
Princess  of  Canino   had  appeared  at  some  of  the 
ambassador's  fetes  in  Rome  with  a  parure  of  Etrus- 
can jewellery,  which  was  the  envy  of  the  society, 
and  excelled  the  chefs  dceuvres  of  Paris  or  Vienna. 
Thus,  after  thousands  of  years,  the  sacred  and  cere- 
monial costumes  of  the  illustrious  of  the  early  world 
were  made  to  contribute  to  a  scene  of  splendour  in 
modern  Europe.     Ancient  Rome,  under  her  kings, 
had  probably  seen  many  such,  and  modern   Rome 
now  looked  upon  them  again.     They  were  admired 
for  their    intrinsic    merit  among    us, — a  race  who 
regard  with  awe,  as  a  period  of  dim   antiquity,  the 
overthrow  of  that  mighty  and  grinding  despotism, 
which  in  its  early  years  had  overwhelmed  the  glory 
and  independence  of  ancient   Etruria,   where  they 
were  made,  and  which  did  not  begin   to  exist  until 
the  power  of  Etruria  was  already  on  the  wane. 


r 


I. 


VULCI. 


273 


Though  we  knew  that  the  Prince  of  Canino  was 
absent,  we  hoped  to  be  permitted  to  inspect  his 
museum,  as  we  were  bearers  of  a  letter  from  Carlo 
Avolta  to  Padre  Maurizio,  a  Franciscan,  who  is  his 
chaplain.  We  set  out  very  early  from  Corneto, 
and  after  a  drive  of  about  four  hours  we  arrived  ut 
Musignano.  The  chateau  of  Prince  Lucien  is  a 
modest  unpretending  structure,  something  between 
a  monastery,  a  gentleman's  house,  and  a  farm.  In 
front  there  is  a  large  and  handsome  set  of  offices, 
while  the  house  itself  stands  on  a  rocky  height  over 
the  gardens  and  shrubberies,  which  extend  for  be- 
tween one  and  two  miles  along  a  valley  skirted  by  a 
stream,  and  which  are  bounded  on  both  sides  by 
woody  and,  in  some  places,  rocky  hills.  We  were 
informed  by  the  gardener  that  Father  Maurizio  had 
accompanied  the  prince  to  Rome,  and  that  without 
an  order  it  was  impossible  for  us  to  see  anything. 
Our  only  resource  was,  to  send  oiF  a  messenger, 
with  our  recommendatory  letter  from  the  gonfalo- 
niere,  to  the  town  of  Canino,  where  the  prince's 
computista,  or  steward,  resided,  in  order  to  explain 
our  wishes,  and  to  procure  the  desired  permission. 
In  the  mean  time  we  were  glad  to  stroll  over  the 
grounds,  and  make  ourselves  acquainted  with  the 
rural  occupations  and  tastes  of  a  man  so  intimately 
connected  with  all  that  is  exciting  in  the  history  of 
the  world  during  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Musig- 
nano is  a  total  deviation  from  the  usual  style  of 
Italian  villas,  and  has  been  laid  out  in  close  imitation 
of  an  English   country  place.     The  walks,  berceaux 

xN    5 


)h 


274 


VULCI. 


of  acacias,  beds  of  roses,  and  thickets  of  laurel,  are 
arranged  with  considerable  taste ;  and  the  most  is 
made  of  the  stream  which  runs  through  the  garden, 
and  which,  about  a  mile  from  the  house,  forms  a 
beautiful  little  lake,  with  very  romantic  rocky  cliffs 
on   one  side,    and   a   little   island   near  the   other, 
planted  with  the  finest  weeping  willows,  scions  of 
the  parent  stem  which  shades  Napoleon's  grave  in 
St.  Helena.     The  Etruscan  riches  and  tastes  of  the 
owner  may  here  and  there  be  discovered  by  a  sarco- 
phagus, with  a  funeral  statue  of  a  recumbent  Lu- 
cumo,    half  seen   behind    a    laurel  thicket.     After 
having  walked  nearly  to  the  end  of  the  pleasure- 
grounds,  we  returned  to  the  chateau  ;  and  as  the  per- 
mission from  Canino  had  not  arrived,  we  breakfasted 
in  a  pavilion  on  a  terrace  in  the  garden,  after  which 
we  were  admitted  within  doors.      The  house  was 
originally  a  Franciscan  monastery,  which  the  prince, 
in  consequence  of  a  disgust  which  he  had  taken  to 
Canino,  fitted  up    as  a  residence,    and   which  the 
princess    bestowed   much   pains  in   adorning  with 
fiower  gardens  and  shrubberies.     On  entering  the 
court  we  found  the  traces  of  an  active  farmer  on  a 
large  scale,  farm-servants  bustling  about,  under  the 
steward's  direction,  measuring  heaps  of  grain,  and 
weighing    sacks    of    wool.       The    accommodation 
afforded  by  the  chateau,  and  the  style  in  w  hich  it  is 
fitted  up,  correspond  with  the  simplicity  of  its  ex- 
ternal arrangements.      There  are  no  vast  suites  of 
halls  and  saloons  as  in  the  palaces  of  Italy,  and  the 
irregular  cluster  of  small  rooms  reminds  one  rather 


i 


'\i! 


VULCI. 


275 


of  an  old-fashioned  English  gentleman's  house,  or  a 
parsonage  on  a  large  scale.  The  only  thing  princely 
or  Italian  in  the  habitation  is  the  baldachino  of  a 
Roman  prince,  somewhat  incongruously  displayed 
in  the  little  hall.  We  were  disappointed  in  our 
hope  of  seeing  the  gold  ornaments,  which  were 
either  locked  up  or  had  been  taken  to  Rome  ;  and 
our  disappointment  was  not  diminished  when,  on 
traversing  a  gallery,  we  found  all  the  Etruscan 
vases,  by  which  one  side  of  its  walls  was  covered,  to 
be  of  a  very  ordinary  quality.  The  form  of  some  of 
them  was  elegant,  and  there  was  here  and  there  a 
curious  subject  depicted  on  them,  but  the  clay  itself 
was  coarse,  and  the  style  of  art  did  not  surpass 
mediocrity.  The  walls  of  a  small  saloon  near  the 
hall  were  covered  on  one  side  by  the  finest  circular 
Etruscan  shields  of  bronze  I  have  ever  seen.  They 
were  in  excellent  preservation,  and  were  formed  of 
embossed  and  richly  adorned  circles,  contracting  to 
the  centre,  where  there  was  a  bulb.  This  was 
small  compensation  for  the  many  things  we  had 
expected  to  see,  such  as  bronze  candelabras,  tripods, 
paterae,  with  raised  figures  and  gilding ;  a  trumpet 
vrhich  was  found  in  a  grave  at  Vulci,  and  a  wheel 
of  punishment  for  the  wicked  ;  small  ivory  statues, 
a  cup  of  terra  cotta  made  by  "  Evkeir ;"  some  plates 
belonging  to  the  old  Etruscan  family  of  "  Spurina,*' 
a  tazza  representing  a  man  studying  and  praising 
the  works  of  Chiron,  and  one  which  has  upon  it 
two  ships,  a  trading  vessel  and  a  man-of-war.  A 
PAINTED   vase   containing  ashes,  which   is  an   ex- 


276 


VULCI. 


tremely  rare  occurrence,  some  very  fine  scarabei, 
some  large  amber  carnei,  a  quantity  of  the  richest 
and  most  exquisitely  wrought  gold  ornaments,  but 
especially  the  headpiece  of  two  disks  and  fillets, 
found  at  Ponte  Sodo,  and  some  green  enamel  neck- 
laces and  idols  set  in  gold,  which  appeared  to  be 
Egyptico  Etruscan.* 

*  I  have  thought  that  it  might  be  interesting  to  particularize  a  few  of 
the  monuments  which  used  to  exist  in  the  collection  of  the  Prince  of 
Canino,  and  which  we  had  hoped  to  have  seen  through  the  kindness 
of  Padre  Maurizio.  As  specimens  of  art  they  exceed,  and  on  the 
whole  they  are  superior  in  number  and  in  beauty  to  any  other  col- 
lection in  Italy.  I  fear  that  some  have  been  sold,  but  I  give  the 
catalogue  of  the  prime  objects  as  we  o))tained  it. 

BRONZES. 

1 .  A  female  figure  in  the  Egyptian  style,  but  of  Etruscan  manu- 
facture, with  a  plaited  under  garment.  A  short-sleeved  vest  which  only 
reaches  to  the  waist,  her  hair  twisted  like  a  turban,  and  her  feet  bare. 

2.  Hercules  in  the  lion's  skin,  carrying  his  club.  A  very  fine 
specimen. 

3.  A  figure  standing  on  a  column,  naked,  with  a  fish  in  each  hand. 
Perhaps  a  river  demi-god. 

4.  Figure  found  at  Vulci.  Egyptian  style,  but  Etruscan  work. 
Naked,  with  the  arms  hanging  down. 

4.  Two  figures,  also  from  Vulci  ;  the  one  naked,  with  both  arms 
raised  ;  the  other  with  the  right  arm  raised,  as  if  making  a  sign,  and 
the  left  a-kimbo  with  a  mantle  over  his  shoulders. 

6.  Two  groups  of  bronzes,  each  upon  a  pediment,  and  each  con- 
sisting of  a  man  and  woman,  the  latter  with  her  hand  upon  the 
shoulder  of  the  former,  and  all  of  them  with  the  fillet  round  their 
heads,  a  sign  of  rank  and  noble  descent. 

7.  A  player  on  the  double  flute,  with  the  instrument  in  his  mouth. 
It  was  called  turarise,  and  was  only  used  for  sacred  rites, 

8.  A  warrior  with  helmet,  shield,  and  sword.  All  these  arms,  of  the 
same  form,  are  often  found  in  the  sepulchres  of  Vulci.  It  stands  on 
a  handsome  pediment. 


VULCI. 


277 


In  the  principal  object  of  our  visit  to  Musignano 
we  were  amply  gratified.  A  small  wooden  com- 
mode was  opened,  and  displayed  the  extraordinary 


9.  A  figure  after  the  Egyptian  style,  which  stood  upon  a  tripod,  and 
supported  a  lamp.  It  is  naked  and  muscular,  with  a  curiously  formed 
helmet. 

10.  A  very  beautiful  candelabra.  The  bottom  of  it  is  formed  by  a 
satyr,  with  his  legs  apart,  in  an  attitude  of  fear.  His  left  hand  holds 
a  large  club  in  the  act  of  bruising  a  serpent  to  death,  and  this  club 
forms  a  third  leg  for  this  piece  of  furniture  to  rest  upon.  His  right 
hand  is  raised  with  a  stone  to  throw  at  the  serpent's  head,  as  it  en- 
deavours to  rise  from  beneath  the  club.  From  the  crown  of  his  head 
rises  the  elegant  twisted  form  of  the  candelabra,  up  which  a  stag  is 
climbing,  and  the  whole  is  surmounted  by  a  syren,  whose  raised  arms 
formerly  supported  a  large  bronze  lamp.     (Vulci.) 

11.  Another  candelabra,  much  less  elegant,  is  composed  of  a  small 
four-wheeled  car,  upon  which  repose  four  lions,  with  their  faces  out- 
wards. In  the  midst  rises  an  Egyptian  figure,  with  necklace  and  arm- 
lets, and  above  her  head  stands  the  lamp.     (  Vulci.) 

12.  Some  curious  tripods,  also  from  Vulci.  One  has  upon  it  three 
figures  in  alto  relievo  :  the  first,  bearded  and  winged,  bears  in  its  arms 
a  dead  youth.  The  second  has  a  helmet,  a  sword,  and  winged  bus- 
kins :  and  the  third  is  Hercules  in  his  lion's  skin,  with  his  club  raised. 
It  represents  Hermes  bearing  a  soul  to  happiness.  The  evil  genius, 
armed,  dis[)uting  the  prize,  and  Hercules,  the  conqueror  of  the  evil 
genii,  coming  to  the  rescue. 

1 3.  A  number  of  pieces  of  bronze  which  formed  a  circle,  and  were 
fixed  upon  a  wooden  wheel  in  a  grave  at  Vulci.  The  wood  had 
perished,  and  the  pieces  accordingly  separated.  They 'have  a  border 
of  geese  upon  each  edge,  and  in  the  centre  there  is  a  man  bearded  and 
undergoing  different  kinds  of  torture :  between  each  figure  comes  a 
hippocampus,  and  a  Gorgon  head  alternately.  This  bad  represented 
souls  in  punishment,  and  in  continual  agitation,  being  allowed  no 
rest. 

1 4.  Part  of  a  frieze  which  went  round  a  cista  mystica.  It  repre- 
sents Gorgons  running,  and  linked  together  by  serpents.  It  has  been 
plated  all  over  with  silver. 


278 


VULCI. 


:M 


Egyptian  contents  of  the  tomb  which  had  lately 
been  found  at  Vulci.  We  regretted  exceedingly  that 
we  were  so  unfortunate  as  not  to  meet  the  Padre 

15.  A  Gorgon's  head  winged.  Another  with  serpents,  both  in  the 
Greek  style,  and  less  frightful  than  the  very  oldest  manner  of  Etruria. 
It  is  one  of  their  primary  and  oldest  symbols  of  devouring  and  un- 
satisfied death.     Always  with  the  mouth  open,  and  tongue  out. 

16.  A  variety  of  curious  bronze  instruments  used  in  sacrifice,  and  a 
column  with  a  warrior  on  the  top,  like  a  candelabra.  On  the  sides 
were  hooks,  upon  which  the  various  instruments  required  at  the  altar 
were  hung. 

BRONZE  PATERA. 

1.  A  patera  ;  a  beautiful  and  rare  article,  about  as  deep  as  an  ordi- 
nary plate.  It  is  richly  covered  with  three  figures,  chiselled  in  relievo, 
and  surrounded  by  a  wreath  of  ivy.  I  have  seen  the  engraving  of 
this  patera  ;  the  countenances  upon  it  are  very  noble,  and  of  the  Greek 
form.  The  centre  figure  is  Prometheus  with  the  vulture,  and  his 
name,  written  in  Etruscan  characters,  over  his  head.  On  the  one  side 
of  him  is  Castor,  and  on  the  other  Pollux,  each  with  his  name  also 
written,  and  a  star. 

2.  Another  patera  about  an  inch  deep,  the  handle  of  which  is  a 
woman,  most  beautifully  executed.  She  has  a  diadem  upon  her 
head,  and  supports  the  patera  with  one  hand,  whilst  she  places  the 
other  behind  her.  Both  of  these  vessels  were  found  in  the  same  small 
tomb  near  Castillina,  in  the  plain  of  Canino,  and  it  contained  no 
other  sort  of  furniture.  The  one  had  doubtless  been  used  for  the 
offering  of  barley  cakes  or  salt,  and  the  other  for  libations.  Patera 
like  these  are  sometimes  found  at  Vulci,  gilt  upon  both  sides;  and 
some  of  these  also  are  in  the  Prince's  Museum. 

IVORY. 

1 .  Two  small  statues  in  Egyptian  style. 

2.  Two  figures  of  different  sexes,  in  basso  relievo,  upon  a  triclinium, 
and  with  double  cushions,— -a  custom  peculiar  to  Etruria.  The 
figures  are  in  the  Egyptian  style. 


VULCI. 


279 


Maurizio,  from  whose  politeness  and  learning  we 
should  have  had  the  most  perfect  information,  which 
we  were  unable  to  extract  from  the  rustic  whom  the 

3.  In  the  same  style,  a  warrior  with  a  spear,  challenging  an  enor- 
mous lion,  and  on  the  reverse  two  Etruscan  letters.  The  figures  have 
been  coloured  and  gilt.  These,  and  others  similar,  probably  orna- 
mented the  little  boxes  which  were  often  filled  with  offerings  or  relics 
placed  beside  the  dead  body.  Many  of  these,  made  of  wood  and 
painted,  are  found  in  the  tombs  in  Egypt. 

GOLD. 

1.  An  extraordinary  ornament,  like  what  we  saw  at  General  Ga- 
lassi's,  now  in  the  Vatican.  It  consists  of  a  large  upper  circle,  two 
broad  chiselled  bands  or  fillets,  and  a  lower  and  smaller  circle  some- 
thing like  a  large  locket.  The  upper  circle  is  rudely  engraved,  and 
represents  two  warriors  fighting  over  the  tomb  of  the  deceased.  This 
tomb  is  either  a  small  pyramid,  or  such  a  cone  as  has  been  the  one 
we  afterwards  saw  at  Caere.  Above  and  around  are  combats  of  birds 
and  beasts.  This  is  set  in  a  double  border  of  zig-zag  and  vandyke  ;  it 
was  found  in  a  scavo  made  by  the  Prince  of  Canino  at  Ponte  Sodo, 
in  1830. 

2.  A  little  idol  of  green  enamel,  covered  with  stamped  plates  of 
gold.  The  figure  is  Egyptian,  and  the  golden  robe  is  Etruscan, 
stamped  with  winged  lions,  the  guardians  of  the  dead. 

3.  A  large  fibula  or  brooch  of  pure  gold,  and  of  very  fine  work- 
manship ;  it  is  composed  of  one  very  large  sphynx  and  two  smaller 
ones  ;  below  is  the  pin  by  which  it  fastens  into  a  sheath. 

4.  A  necklace  of  gold,  whence  hang  six  little  images  of  Phtah  in 
green  paste,  and  in  the  midst  of  them  a  scarabeus,  with  the  hierogly- 
phics answering  to  the  letters  t.  s.  i.  or  daughter,  according  to  Rose- 
lini.  The  scarabeus  is  Egyptian,  and  of  the  same  pasta  as  the  images, 
and  each  image  has  hieroglyphics  behind  it. 

5.  A  necklace  composed  of  gold  balls  or  beads,  alternately  plain 
and  worked,  terminating  in  a  finely  made  ram's  head.     (Vulci.) 

6.  An  immense  gold  locket,  convex  without,  and  concave  within.  It 
has  been  intended  for  perfumes,  and  the  outer  side  has  a  number  of 


280 


VULCI. 


VULCI. 


281 


computista  sent  to  attend  us.  But,  from  all  that  we 
could  learn,  it  would  seem  that  the  external  appear- 
ance of  this  tomb  did  not  differ  from  that  of  others 

animals  and  figures  depicted  on  it  in  minute  grains  of  gold,  which 
have  been  fixed  in  by  fire.  (Vulci.) 

7.  Several  rings,  with  curious  Egyptian  characters  engraved  upon 
the  gold.  (Vulci.) 

8.  A  broad  band  of  gold  called  a  diadem  because  it  was  worn  upon 
the  forehead. — It  has  a  winged  genius  at  each  extremity.  (Vulci.) 

SEPULCHRAL  URNS. 

One  very  large,  of  travertine,  with  a  woman  robed,  and  with  a  dog 
upon  the  lid,  exactly  like  an  English  monument  of  the  middle  ages, 

VASES. 

1.  A  jug  with  red  black  figures,  finely  executed  ;  subject,  Hercules 
armed  with  his  bow  and  arrow,  relating  his  achievements  to  Eurystheus. 
Upon  it  stands  the  name  of  the  artist  Amasis — AMA2I2  EITOIESEN. 

2.  A  water  vase  with  three  handles,  and  a  group  of  figures  in  black. 
The  subject  is  Jupiter  and  Juno  seated  together;  he,  with  the  thun- 
derbolt, and  she  with  a  spear.  Proserpine  stands  before  them  with  a 
pomegranate  flower  in  her  hand,  and  Mercury  is  behind  with  his  cadu- 
ceus.     Bacchus  is  coming  forward  with  a  cup. 

3.  A  two  handled  vase  with  white  and  red  figures.  The  subject  is 
Thetis  bringing  armour  to  Achilles.  She  presents  him  with  a  shield, 
on  which  the  sacred  tripod  is  represented,  and  with  two  spears. 

4.  A  Panathenaic  prize  vase,  esteemed  of  very  great  value.  It  has 
two  stout  handles  :  on  one  side  is  Minerva,  the  patroness  of  the  games, 
armed  with  her  shield,  and  about  to  throw  the  spear.  On  the  side  of 
the  vase  are  the  words  "  Ton  athen  ethen  athlon,"  in  Etruscan  cha- 
racters ;  and  on  the  reverse  are  four  foot- racers,  the  first  of  whom  has 
his  foot  just  beyond  the  goal.  This  has  been  a  prize  given  to  the 
victor  in  a  foot-race. 

5.  A  jug,  the  front  of  which  is  completely  covered  with  figures  in 
red,  black,  and  white  :  subject,  two  Amazons  with  names  written  ;  they 
are  mounted,  and  accompanied  by  two  dogs  like  mastiffs,  and  which 
are  also  named. 


in  the  neighbourhood,  though  its  contents  were  so 
dissimilar.  There  were  shown  us  images  of  large 
size,  and  with  a  decidedly  Egyptian  character.   One 

6.  A  very  rare  cup,  on  which  is  de- 
scribed a  funeral  procession  in  the 
manner  peculiar  to  Etruria ;  the  figures 
are  white,  black,  and  purple.  On  the 
left  hand  of  the  spectator  is  the  gate 
whence  the  procession  has  issued  forth 
to  accompany  the  dead  to  his  place  of 
sepulture.  The  funeral  car  is  drawn 
by  two  mules  of  a  breed  much  es- 
teemed in  Etruria.  Upon  it  is  laid 
the  dead  body  of  a  bearded  man  ;  his 
face  uncovered,  his  head  adorned  with 
ornaments,  and  his  body  enveloped  in 
a  cloak.  On  the  one  side  sits  his  daughter  richly  dressed,  and  on  the 
other  his  son,  and  behind  the  car  walks  one  of  the  nearest  relations,  in 
an  embroidered  pallium,  absorbed  in  grief.  Close  to  him  is  the  player 
on  the  double  flute,  to  whose  measured  cadences  the  company  keep 
time.  The  whole  is  brought  up  by  a  number  of  soldiers  completely 
armed,  with  helmet,  shield,  and  spear  ;  but  their  heads  are  bent  and 
their  spears  reversed,  and  they  each  bear  different  devices  upon  their 
shields,  as  if  they  were  so  many  chiefs  or  heads  of  different  bands  of 
men,  come  to  pay  the  last  honour  either  to  their  equal  or  their  prince. 
Two  heralds  go  by  the  side  of  the  mules,  and  appear  to  be  making 
lamentation,  and  the  car  has  nearly  reached  the  gate  of  the  tomb 
through  which  trees  are  seen,  to  indicate  that  it  was  situated  in  some 
rustic  spot,  and  not  amongst  the  dwellings  of  man. 

7.  Another  painted  vase  in  which  a  sacrifice  is  represented,  and 
which  was  found  within  a  sarcophagus  of  nenfrite.  It  was  filled 
with  the  ashes  of  the  deceased,  the  only  painted  vase  I  ever  heard  of 
so  filled.     By  it  lay  a  balsamario  of  alabaster,  and  a  cup  for  libations. 

8.  Vase  with  two  handles— figures  light  coloured  upon  a  black 
ground.  A  countryman  with  two  buckets  on  a  rod  ;  the  inscription 
round  it  is,  "  Hail  the  beautiful  boy.'* 

9.  A  drinking  cu])  with  two  handles,  of  very  fine  clay.  The  figures 
are  black  on  a  red  ground.     This  cup  stood  on  a  sort  of  tripod  when 


282 


VULCI. 


of  them  had  in  its  hand  the  sacred  hawk  of  Egypt 
crowned  with  the  symbol  of  divinity.  There  were 
several  wheeled  altars  of  bronze  in  the  most  perfect 

used.  It  has  two  eyes,  which  are  to  said  represent  Bacchus  ;  they 
are  within  wreaths  of  ivy,  and  there  are  satyrs  running  on  each  side. 
(Vulci.) 

10.  An  eye  painted  cup,  with  a  winged  sphynx,  and  another  eye 
painted  cup,  with  a  winged  horse  or  Pegasus— both  from  Vulci.  The 
eye  united  with  a  Pegasus  is  also  found  at  Chius*. 

11.  A  vase  with  two  handles — figures  red  upon  a  black  ground- 
Subject  Diana,  with  her  bow  and  arrow,  looking  upon  Acteon,  who  is 
devoured  by  her  dogs.  This  vase  follows  the  account  of  Euripedes. 
It  is  therefore  of  very  late  manufactory,  and  may  be  compared  with 
those  of  the  primitive  Archaic  style,  to  show  the  difference  which  had 
taken  place  in  the  manner  of  representing  subjects. 

12.  The  prince  has  one  drinking  cup  of  the  finest  clay  and  the  very 
oldest  style.     It  has  two  handles,  and  is  of  this  form  ;  black  within  and 

without,  excepting  one  small 
compartment  on  each  side. 
In  the  first  we  see  Hercules 
with  a  sword  only,  conquer- 
ing Cyncus,  who  has  both 
sword  and  spear,  and  who  is 
assisted  by  Mercury.  There 
is  an  inscription  behind  Her- 
cules. In  the  second  on  the 
other  side  Hercules  is  represented  fighting  with  Achelous,  and  break- 
ing off  one  of  his  horns.  Achelous  was  one  of  the  suitors  of  Dejanira, 
and,  afler  being  vanquished  by  Hercules,  he  changed  himself  into 
the  river  of  that  name  which  runs  through  Epirus. 

13.  Some  curious  terra  cotta  plates  with  a  single  figure  in  the 
centre  of  them. 

14.  Embalming  vases  in  the    Egyptian  style.      Two    have    asses 
heads;    one  is  a  female  head  with  a  modius;  another  is  a   female 
kneeling,  and  her  figure  embracing  the  cinerary  urn  ;  another  is  an 
ornamented  leg. 

15.  Some  deep  plates  with  inscriptions  in  Etruscan.  One  bears  the 
name  of  the  Gens  Spurina,  so  well  known  in  history. 


VULCI. 


283 


preservation,  and  a  number  of  curious  sacrificial 
instruments.  There  were  ostrich  eggs  formed  into 
cups,  some  of   them  painted,  with  figures   exactly 

16.  A  beautiful  cup  with  two  handles,  from  Vulci.  In  the  inside 
Juno  is  painted  upon  a  white  ground.  HP  A  is  written  by  her.  She 
is  standing,  and  is  dressed  in  a  white  tunic,  with  a  purple  veil,  the 
edge  of  which  is  painted  in  palm  leaves,  one  colour  being  laid  upon 
another.  The  face  is  in  natural  tints.  The  diadem,  the  necklace, 
and  the  sceptre,  are  in  relievo,  and  of  gold.  It  is  exquisitely  finished, 
but  probably  not  of  older  date  than  about  two  centuries  before  the 
christian  era.     It  was  found  in  1830.     (Vulci.) 

17.  Atazza  with  one  handle,  red  figures  on  a  black  ground.  In  the 
centre  sits  a  man  reading  a  book  which  he  had  taken  out  of  a  bookcase 
before  him,  and  on  this  bookcase  is  written  the  title  XIP0NEI2,  or 
works  of  Chiron,  and  beneath,  the  estimation  in  which  those  works 
were  held— KAAE,  excellent  or  beautiful."  On  each  side  of  him 
stands  a  youth  leaning  on  a  staff,  and  listening  to  him  with  earnest 
attention. 

1 8.  Another  cup  of  the  same  form  ;  also  red  figures  upon  a  black 
ground.  On  it  are  represented  two  kinds  of  ships,  of  the  form  in  use 
amongst  the  primitive  Etruscans.  The  one  kind  has  a  mast  with  the 
sails  spread,  and  two  ranks  of  rowers,  twenty  on  each  side.  This 
appears  to  be  an  armed  galley,  with  a  projecting  prow,  the  form  of 
which  is  between  the  head  of  a  dog  and  a  fish.  The  other  kind  is  a 
crafl  for  merchandise,  without  oars,  but  with  helm,  ladders,  and  other 
furniture.  This  is  a  tazza  equally  rare  and  interesting,  and  I  heard  it 
described  with  admiration  by  Baron  Stackelberg  as  a  useful  historical 
document. 

GEMS 

1.  Cornelian  scarabeus.  Fideus  3XVX  armed  with  shield  and 
sword.  His  helmet  is  on  the  ground ;  shield  is  round ;  sword  two- 
edged  and  short.  (Vulci.)  We  saw  a  real  sword  exactly  similar  at 
Tuscania. 

2.  Cornelian  scarabeus,  of  the  finest  engraving,  A  warrior  com- 
pletely armed,  taking  leave  of  an  aged  man,  who  is  seated,  and  leans 
upon  a  staff  or  sceptre.     (Vulci.) 


284 


VULCI. 


f 


resembling  many  of  those  copied  by  Roselini  from 
the  tombs  of  the  Pharaohs,  and  others  with  similar 
figures  carved  on  them.  There  were  small  earthen 
vessels  resembling  modern  shooting  flasks,  and  in- 
scribed with  Egyptian  hieroglyphics.  There  was  a 
great  quantity  of  glass  bugles,  which  we  know  was 
an  ornament  often  used  by  the  Egyptians.  I  regret 
that  I  have  lost  the  list  of  these  articles  made  at  the 
time,  and  that  what  I  have  mentioned  is  all  I  accu- 
rately remember.  But  it  is  enough  to  show  the 
Egyptian  character  of  this  Vulcian  sepulchre,  and 
to  give  rise  to  an  infinity  of  conjectures  as  to  its 
probable  history  and  design,  all  tending  to  demon- 
strate frequent  intercourse  between  Egypt  and 
Etruria.  Was  the  occupant  of  the  tomb  an  Egyptian 
settled  in  this  country,  or  was  he  an  Etruscan  who 
had  formerly  resided  in  Egypt,  and  had  conformed 

3.  Another  ditto.  A  combat  between  a  lion  and  a  bull,  in  very  old 
style.     (Vulci.) 

4.  A  scarabeus  in  cornelian,  a  chimera,  made  up  of  a  lion  and  a 
cock.     (Vulci.) 

5.  Lion,  in  the  oldest,  or  at  least  the  strangest  and  most  barbarous 
form.    A  cornelian  scarabeus.     (Vulci.) 

AMBER. 

Some  pieces  are  in  beads,  which  have  formed  a  necklace,  and  one 
piece  is  engraved.  They  are  found  in  the  sepulchres  of  Vulci  and 
Tarquinia,  and  in  those  of  Puglia  and  Basilicata.  The  most  ex- 
traordinary for  form  and  engravings  hitherto  discovered  are  in  the 
possession  of  the  prince  of  San  Georgio  at  Naples,  and  look  almost 
like  little  pieces  of  sculpture. 

The  prince  of  Canino  has  also  a  small  Etruscan  trumpet,  such  as 
was  used  in  the  temples,  and  which  came  out  of  a  tomb  at  Vulci. 


VULCI. 


286 


to  the  religion  and  usages  of  the  Egyptians,  or  was 
he  simply  a  collector  of  curious  things  from  distant 
lands,  and  was  his  museum  buried  along  with  him 
as  his  most  valued  possession?  The  latter  sup- 
position is  too  trivial,  and  in  addition  to  one  or 
other  of  the  former  I  would  add,  that  it  is  probable 
that  the  deceased  held  a  high  rank  in  the  priestly 
order,  for  so  many  sacred  images,  vessels,  and  uten- 
sils, are  rarely  found  together  in  the  tomb  of  a 
layman.  And  this  again  leads  to  a  train  of  curious 
speculation  as  to  the  religious  rites  of  the  two  coun- 
tries, whether  it  was  usual  for  the  one,  at  least 
partially,  to  adopt  those  of  the  other,  and  in  how 
far  there  may  have  been  in  some  places  an  identity 
between  them.  I  think  the  most  likely  solution 
of  the  problem  is,  that  the  deceased  was  an  Etruscan 
of  great  distinction  who  had  lived  in  Egypt,  and  on 
his  return  to  his  native  country  retained  the  religion 
which  he  had  learnt  when  there ;  and  that  he  offi- 
ciated as  priest  to  his  own  household  and  offered  up 
the  domestic  sacrifice  on  these  very  altars  to  Isis 
and  to  Horus.  Strange  that  the  habits,  history, 
and  tastes  of  an  individual  with  a  name  and  of  a  race 
unknown,  should  give  rise  to  the  most  interesting 
speculations  two  thousand  five  hundred  or  three 
thousand  years  after  his  death,  and  that  the  traces 
of  him  should  have  survived  those  of  mighty  empires 
and  powerful  dynasties.  We  tore  ourselves  un- 
willingly from  these  curious  enigmas,  and  returned  to 
our  carriage,  passing  through  the  Prince  of  Canino's 
court,  where  the  processes  of  weighing  and  win- 


i 


286 


VLLCI. 


nowing  were  going  forward  under  the  matter-of-fact 
eye  of  the  computista,  the  unsatisfactory  nature  of 
our  intercourse  with  whom,  made  us  more  and 
more  regret  the  want  of  the  enlightened  and  polite 
guidance  of  Padre  Maurizio. 

It  took  about  three  hours  to  drive  from  Musig- 
nano  to  Ponte  Labadia,  and  our  way  lay  through  a 
desolate  country,  resembling  some  of  the  moorland 
districts  in  Scotland  or  the  North  of  England,  with 
more  of  rugged  wildness  and  less  of  beauty  than 
in  the  deserted  neighbourhood  of  Rome.  Yet  this 
was  in  very  ancient  times  the  most  favoured  spot  in 
the  midst  of  the  highest  civilization  and  the  richest 
culture,  and  particularly  famed  for  its  wine.  No 
contrast  can  be  more  striking  than  that  between  the 
ancient  fertility  and  teeming  population  of  Etruria 
and  its  present  desolation  and  solitude.  On  the  site 
of  the  wealthiest  cities  scarcely  a  substruction  re- 
mains amid  the  barren  waste,  to  tell  of  the  noble 
fortunes  thus  extinguished.  Where  luxuriant  vine- 
yards and  smiling  gardens  and  fruitful  olive  yards, 
gave  ease  and  comfort  to  thousands  of  wealthy  and 
industrious  inhabitants,  a  scanty  flock  of  sheep  or 
herd  of  cattle  now  seek  a  miserable  subsistence,  on 
the  deserted  plain.  The  country  which  supported 
an  opulent  and  crowded  population  in  the  days  of 
Etruscan  independence,  was  divided  among  a  few 
great  masters  under  the  yoke  of  the  Roman  con- 
queror ;  and  the  wealthy  patrician,  residing  at  a 
distance,  drew  his  revenues  from  territories  which 
had  formerly  been  cultivated  by  resident  landowners 


VULCI. 


287 


so  as  to  yield  the  fullest  return  for  labour,  but  which, 
under  a  change  of  masters  who  were  now  absent, 
gradually  grew  waste  and  depopulated.     The  well- 
enclosed  garden,  cornfield,  and   vineyard,  with  the 
frequent  town,  village,  and  country-seat,  gave  way 
to  a  large  sheep  or  cattle  farm  in  the  hands  of  aliens. 
The  ancient  lords  became  serfs,  and  the  inhabitants 
were  drained  off  to  supply  the  constant  demand  of 
recruits  for  the  Roman  legions,  and  poverty,  desola- 
tion, and  disease,  became  the  miserable  fate  of  the 
country.     It  is  generally  admitted  that,  in  the  days 
of  ancient    Rome,  the  malaria  was  comparatively 
rare  and  mild,  in  many  places  where  it  now  reigns 
with  fearful  violence ;  and  this  must  be  still  more 
true  of  the  same  spots  at  a  still   earlier  period  in 
ancient  Etruria.     A  densely  inhabited  country,  kepi 
in  a  constant  state  of  high  cultivation,  is  not  liable 
to  the  same  inroads  of  this  frightful  disease ;  and  as 
Etruria  was  originally  depopulated  by  the  Roman 
usurpers,  it  is  fair  to  make  them  at  least  divide  the 
blame  of  the  present  physical  calamities  of  Italy 
with  the  Goths  and  devastating  barbarians  of  still 
more  modern  times,  to  whom  these  evils  have  in 
general  been  mainly  attributed. 

A  journey  through  Etruria,  and  a  comparison 
between  the  frequent  and  rich  records  of  the  dead, 
and  the  scarcity  and  miserable  poverty  of  the  living, 
is  enough  to  confirm  our  antipathy  against  those 
overbearing  republican  tyrants,  who  ground  down 
the  whole  earth  under  their  iron  despotism,  before 
whom  the  nations  quailed,  and  to  be  enrolled  among 


288 


VULCI. 


VULCI. 


289 


the  number  of  whose  private  citizens,  was  an  honour 
envied  alike  by  the  oriental  monarch,  the  Etruscan 
aristocrat,  and  the  semi-barbarian  chief  of  Iberia  or 
of  Gaul.  "  Senatus  populusque  Romanus"  was  in 
sooth  to  fill  the  whole  earth,  everything  was  made 
for  it,  and  was  to  bow  down  to  it.  And  that  mighty, 
grinding,  demolishing  power  under  which  all  that 
was  respected  and  time-honoured  among  the  ancient 
nations  were  annihilated,  ere  long  became  itself  a 
miserable  tool  at  the  disposal  of  a  handful  of  Prae- 
torians or  Janissaries,  with  a  rapid  succession  of 
contemptible  tyrants  at  their  head,  whose  miserable 
end  was  the  only  merited  part  of  their  fortune. 
How  the  humbled  Lucumones  of  the  great  Etrus- 
can commonwealth  must  have  cursed  the  despotic 
levellers  who  demolished  their  government,  de- 
stroyed their  nationality,  and  obliterated  their  very 
existence !  We  could  almost  fancy  that  voices  from 
the  tombs  of  Vulci  and  Tarquinia  had  summoned 
the  northern  hordes  from  the  Elbe  and  the  Oder 
to  avenge  their  quarrel  on  the  effeminate  descend- 
ants of  their  rude  destroyers. 

Thus  endeavouring  to  recall  the  distant  past,  and 
to  depict  the  last  expiring  struggles  of  Etruscan 
liberty,  and  the  subsequent  extinction  of  the  w  ealth, 
civilization,  and  very  existence  of  that  great  people, 
we  had  forgotten  the  desolate  scene  around  us,  when 
we  were  suddenly  called  to  observe  the  castle  of 
Ponte  Labadia,  the  only  inhabited  place  we  had  seen 
since  leaving  Musignano.  It  is  a  gothic  fortress,  of 
the  middle  ages,  picturesque  with  its  towers,  and 


curious  in  a  country  where  there  are  few  remains 
of  that  period  of  modern  antiquity.      It  is   finely 
situated  on  the  precipitous  banks  of  the  River  Fiora, 
over   which    was  thrown   the   noble   bridge  which 
gives  its  name  to  the  place,  and  which  is  one  of  the 
finest   specimens   extant  of  Etruscan  architecture. 
It  is  elevated  very  high  over  the  channel  of  the 
river,  and  forms  a  beautiful  arch.     Its  masonry  is 
of  that   huge    and  durable    character    peculiar  to 
Etruria, — the   connecting   link    in   the   history    of 
Italian  architecture  between  the  Cyclopean  and  the 
Roman  styles,  having  the  beauty  and  regularity  of 
the    latter,    with    the    gigantic    size    and    strength 
which  distinguish  the  former,  but  without  that  form- 
less rude  appearance  which  seems  to  say  that  it  had 
been  rolled  up  by  giants  in  sport.     The  outer  wall 
of  one   side  of  this  bridge  is   strikingly  peculiar, 
showing  evident  traces  of  an  aqueduct,  the  bridge 
having  thus  served  the  double  purpose  of  a  viaduct 
and  an  aqueduct  to  the  city  of  Vulci,  on  the  site 
of  which  now  stands   the  modern  fortress.      But, 
before  crossing  or  examining  this  bridge,  we  went 
to  see  a  natural  curiosity  on  the  river-side.     We 
scrambled  by  a  very  difficult  and  somewhat  dan- 
gerous path    down  to  the  bed  of  the   stream,  the 
course  of  which  we  followed  upon  a  narrow  ledge, 
overhung  by  a  projecting  rocky   precipice  varied 
with  curious  and  fantastic  shapes,  and  terminating 
in    a   great   cavern    formed   entirely    of  immense 
stalactytes.     I  thought  that  from  the  singularity  of 
its  scenery,  its  delicious  coolness,  and  the  freshness 


290 


VULCI. 


VULCI. 


291 


(, 


of  its  fountain,  this  cave  must  have  been  a  favourite 
place  of  resort  to  the  ancient  people  of  Vulci,  con- 
venient for  their  pic-nics  and  rural  merrymakings, 
within  a  few  minutes'  walk  of  their  town,  and  in- 
viting alike  to  the  lovers  of  the  picturesque,  and  of 
iced  wine  and  other  creature  comforts.  Reascend- 
ing  the  steep  bank,  we  entered  the  fortress,  and 
found  the  garrison  to  consist  of  a  few  ragged  sol- 
diers under  a  corporal,  and  a  couple  of  custom- 
house officers,  one  of  whom  deluded  us  with  the 
prospect  of  purchasing  antiquities  found  on  the  spot. 
But  on  his  treasures  being  produced,  the  chief  of 
them  turned  out  to  be  a  broken  specchio,  for  which 
he  asked  more  crowns  than  it  would  have  been 
worth  if  it  had  been  whole.  There  is,  however,  no 
spot  in  Etruria  where  more  precious  things  have 
been  found  than  Vulci.  Its  chains  and  fillets  of 
pure  gold,  and  its  jewelled  ornaments,  are  of  sur- 
passing value,  and  some  graves  were  shown  me  in 
which,  during  the  last  year,  some  objects  of  very 
high  price  had  been  discovered. 

Our  visit  to  Vulci  was  unsatisfactory  from  our 
ignorance  of  the  greater  part  of  its  history,  an 
from  the  meagreness  of  such  information  as  is 
known  upon  the  subject.  The  Prince  of  Canino 
maintains  that  this  is  the  site  of  the  ancient  Ve- 
tulonia ;  while  Micali,  with  more  probability,  tells 
us  that  after  considerable  uncertainty,  the  site  of 
Vetulonia  has  been  fixed  in  the  Siennese  Maremma, 
about  five  miles  from  Massa,  and  that  its  many 
ruins  are  there  embowered  in  a  thick  wood.     The 

5 


same  author  describes  Vulci  as  the  parent  state  of 
which  Cosa  was  a  colony,  still  more  distinguished 
than  itself.  He  says  that  the  traces  of  the  city  of 
the  Vulcientes,  the  mother  town  of  Cosa,  are  to  be 
found  in  the  lands  of  Camposcala,  in  the  district  of 
Montalto,  and  on  the  spot  called  from  time  imme- 
morial Plain  of  Vulci,  Piano  di  Vulci.  With  this 
account,  Miiller,  author  of  the  Etrlisker,  mainly 
agrees.  He  says  that  the  Vulcientes,  in  whose 
territory  was  the  distinguished  city  of  Cosa,  had  for 
their  capital  Vulci,  so  called  from  their  own  name, 
like  Veii  from  the  Veientes,  and  that  it  contained 
a  municipium  long  after  it  was  subdued  by  the 
Romans. 

It  appears  that  Vulci  was  the  old  and  faithful 
ally  of  the  still  more  powerful  state  of  Volsinii, 
which,  after  the  downfall  of  Tarquinia,  was  the 
most  potent  of  Central  Etruria,  and  even  after 
the  dreadful  rout  at  the  Vadimonian  lake,  in  the 
year  of  Rome  444,  made  a  determined  opposition 
to  the  rising  mistress  of  the  world.  In  the  year 
469,  the  shores  of  the  same  quiet  lake  witnessed 
another  terrible  battle,  in  which  the  star  of  the 
Etruscans  for  ever  set,  and  the  Roman  Tiber  rolled 
in  triumph  its  yellow  waves,  made  ruddy  with  the 
richest  blood  of  Etruria.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this 
sisrnal  overthrow,  the  Volsinians,  with  their  allies 
of  Vulci,  carried  on  a  war  of  resistance  with  Rome, 
and  a  victory  over  them  gave  the  honour  of  a 
triumph  to  a  Roman  consul  in  473,  as  is  shown  by 
the  Fasti  Consulares :  and  even  after  this,  the  in- 

o  2 


292 


VULCI. 


dependent  spirit  of  the  Vulcientes  seems  to  have 
continued ;  for,  in  order  to  tarae  it,  the  Romans,  in 
479,  founded  a  Roman  colony  at  Cosa  within  their 
territory.  Like  Tarquinia  and  other  Etruscan 
towns,  Vulci  continued  to  exist  for  many  centuries 
after  the  loss  of  its  independence  ;  and  it  is  said  not 
to  have  been  finally  destroyed  until  the  twelfth 
century,  but  scarcely  any  remains  of  it  are  now 
visible.  After  crossing  the  beautiful  bridge,  the 
sight  of  which  alone  would  repay  one  for  a  journey 
of  many  miles,  we  paused  on  the  bank  of  the  river 
opposite  the  gothic  fortress,  and  endeavoured  to 
conceive  what  the  city  of  Vulci  might  have  been 
in  the  days  of  its  prosperity.  It  was  built  on  the 
rocky  banks  overhanging  the  river  Fiora,  which 
become  more  and  more  precipitous  and  romantic 
beyond  the  site  of  the  city,  until  they  form  the  great 
stalactyte  grotto  which  has  been  already  described. 
Its  position  recalled  to  my  mind  that  of  Ronciglione, 
with  which  many  of  my  readers  may  be  familiar,  on 
the  Sienna  road  to  Rome. 

Micali,  to  whom  is  due  the  ascertaining  and  fix- 
ino-  of  the  site  of  Vulci,  says  that  the  Fiora  was 
called  by  the  Etruscans  the  Amine,  and  he  thinks 
it  probable  that  Vulci  was  colonised  by  the  Volsci- 
ans,  during  the  time  that  Etruria  ruled  over  their 
country.  A  number  of  them  may  either  have  been 
transported,  and  settled  here  as  prisoners  under 
Tarquinian  rulers,  or  they,  as  freemen,  may  have 
chosen  to  live  under  Etruscan  protection,  and  have 
become  naturalised,  for  they  were  very  early  ad- 


VULCI. 


293 


mitted  into  the  league  of  Central  Etruria.     Vulci 
was  a  small  but  extremely  rich  and  civilised  city, 
containing  the  most  beautiful  works  of  art    which 
have  yet  been  found,  in  jewellery,  bronze,  terra  cotta, 
sculpture,  and  painting;    and  Cosa,   which    was  a 
much  larger  town,  and  is  commonly  called  a  colony 
of  the  Vulci,  but  which   never  was   their    capital, 
appears  to  have  been  built  when  they  felt  the  ne- 
cessity  of  a  sea-port,  and  to  have  been  the  medium 
of  their  communication  with  foreign  nations.  Vulci, 
though    conquered    by  the    Romans    in    473,   was 
governed    for  long    after,    as  a   tributary  state    or 
municipium   by  its  own  laws  and  its  own    magis- 
trates.    Hence  probably  that  genius  became  concen- 
trated in  art,  which  could  no  longer  be  turned  to 

politics.'* 

No  spot  in  Italy  has  occasioned  more  disputes 
than  this,  as  to  whether  the  articles  found  in  it 
were  of  Greek  or  native  manufacture ;  and  it 
would  appear  that  the  same  tomb  usually  contains 
vases,  of  such  dissimilar  and  often  progressive 
workmanship,  as  would  denote  a  manufactory  car- 
ried on  for  many  generations,  and  under  a  va- 
riety  of  circumstances,  and  a  change  of  style  and 
of  hands.  Micali  gives  his  opinion  in  strong 
terms,  that  many  of  the  Vulcian  vases  are  alto- 
gether foreign,  brought  there  by  commerce  from 
Greece  and  Sicily  and  Nola,  while  he  says  that 
the  quality  of  the  clay,  and  the  names  of  the  makers 

*  Cicero  says,  that  the  belle  arti  were  left  to  the   conquered,  and 
the  ruling  of  men  to  the  Romans. 


292 


VULCI. 


•Ii 


VULCI. 


293 


dependent  spirit  of  the  Vuleientes  seems  to  have 
continued ;  for,  in  order  to  tame  it,  the  Romans,  in 
479,  founded  a  Roman  colony  at  Cosa  within  their 
territory.  Like  Tarquinia  and  other  Etruscan 
towns,  Vulci  continued  to  exist  for  many  centuries 
after  the  loss  of  its  independence  ;  and  it  is  said  not 
to  have  been  finally  destroyed  until  the  twelfth 
centurv,  but  scarcely  any  remains  of  it  are  now 
visible.  After  crossing  the  beautiful  bridge,  the 
sight  of  which  alone  would  repay  one  for  a  journey 
of  many  miles,  we  paused  on  the  bank  of  the  river 
opposite  the  gothic  fortress,  and  endeavoured  to 
conceive  what  the  city  of  Vulci  might  have  been 
in  the  days  of  its  prosperity.  It  was  built  on  the 
rocky  banks  overhanging  the  river  Fiora,  which 
become  more  and  more  precipitous  and  romantic 
beyond  the  site  of  the  city,  until  they  form  the  great 
stalactyte  grotto  which  has  been  already  described. 
Its  position  recalled  to  my  mind  that  of  Ronciglione, 
with  which  many  of  my  readers  may  be  familiar,  on 
the  Sienna  road  to  Rome. 

Micali,  to  whom  is  due  the  ascertaining  and  fix- 
ino-  of  the  site  of  Vulci,  says  that  the  Fiora  was 
called  by  the  Etruscans  the  Amine,  and  he  thinks 
it  probable  that  Vulci  was  colonised  by  the  Volsci- 
ans,  during  the  time  that  Etruria  ruled  over  their 
country.  A  number  of  them  may  either  have  been 
transported,  and  settled  here  as  prisoners  under 
Tarquinian  rulers,  or  they,  as  freemen,  may  have 
chosen  to  live  under  Etruscan  protection,  and  have 
become  naturalised,  for  they  were  very  early  ad- 


mitted into  the  league  of  Central  Etruria.  Vulci 
was  a  small  but  extremely  rich  and  civilised  city, 
containing  the  most  beautiful  works  of  art  which 
have  yet  been  found,  in  jewellery,  bronze,  terra  cotta, 
sculpture,  and  painting;  and  Cosa,  which  was  a 
much  larger  town,  and  is  commonly  called  a  colony 
of  the  Vulci,  but  which  never  was  their  capital, 
appears  to  have  been  built  when  they  felt  the  ne- 
cessity of  a  sea-port,  and  to  have  been  the  medium 
of  their  communication  with  foreign  nations.  Vulci, 
though  conquered  by  the  Romans  in  473,  was 
governed  for  long  after,  as  a  tributary  state  or 
municipium  by  its  own  laws  and  its  own  magis- 
trates. Hence  probably  that  genius  became  concen- 
trated in  art,  which  could  no  longer  be  turned  to 

politics.''*' 

No  spot  in  Italy  has  occasioned  more  disputes 
than  this,  as  to  whether  the  articles  found  in  it 
were  of  Greek  or  native  manufacture;  and  it 
would  appear  that  the  same  tomb  usually  contains 
vases,  of  such  dissimilar  and  often  progressive 
workmanship,  as  would  denote  a  manufactory  car- 
ried on  for  many  generations,  and  under  a  va- 
riety of  circumstances,  and  a  change  of  style  and 
of  hands.  Micali  gives  his  opinion  in  strong 
terms,  that  many  of  the  Vulcian  vases  are  alto- 
gether foreign,  brought  there  by  commerce  from 
Greece  and  Sicily  and  Nola,  while  he  says  that 
the  quality  of  the  clay,  and  the  names  of  the  makers 

*  Cicero  says,  that  the  belle  arti  were  left  to  the   conquered,  and 
the  ruling  of  men  to  the  Romans. 


294 


VULCI. 


or  possessors,  determine  others  as  decidedly  to  be 
native.  He  saw  one,  in  the  possession  of  the  Prince 
of  Canino,  with  the  name  of  Euchelr  upon  it,  a  sin- 
gular coincidence  with  the  designation  of  the  person 
or  class  which  Deraaratus  brought  with  him  from 
Corinth.  This  vase  or  cup  is  not  painted  on  the 
outside,  but  it  is  made  of  the  finest  clay,  and  with- 
in there  is  a  representation  of  the  chimera,  formed 
of  a  lion,  a  goat,  and  a  serpent,  in  the  old  stiff 
Archaic    style,    and    the    inscription    upon     it    is 

fl^XC/f  C7\0lh6£  or  "  Eucheir  made  it."— 
The  names  of  the  noble  Etruscan  families  for  whom 
such  vases  were  made,  and  in  whose  tombs  they 
are  found,  are  "  Minucia,  Annia,  Aruntia,  Velia," 
(fee,  and  the  names  of  the  artists,  who  were  not 
natives,  but  Greeks,  are  "  Nicostenes,  Archides, 
l^alides,  Xenocles,  and  Sosias,"  who  was  also,  I 
think,  a  worker  in  Mosaic.  Altogether,  of  foreigners 
and  natives,  above  thirty  artists'  names  are  known, 
but  the  five  names  which  I  have  indicated  are  found 
also  upon  vases  in  Sicily,  at  Nola,  and  in  Campa- 
nia. The  name  of  "  Hiero"  is  inscribed  upon 
several  vases  at  Vulci,  but  w^hether  it  denotes  the 
name  of  the  maker,  or  of  the  person  for  whom,  or 
during  whose  reign  they  were  made,  we  did  not 
ascertain.  The  black  figured  vases  often  contain 
subjects  wholly  local,  such  as  funeral  processions* 
or  else  something  peculiar  to  the  Etruscan  faith, 
such  as  good  and  evil  genii ;  and  upon  these  black 
vases,  even  when  the  subject  is  Greek,  the  dress, 
armour,  and  accompaniments,  are  all  native.     But 


VULCI. 


295 


there  are  other  vases  found  here  after  the  model  of 
the  Dodwell  in  Rome,  and  these  Micali  calls  "  Co- 
rinthian,"  though  he  thinks  their  primitive  origin 
must  be  sought  in  Asia  Minor,  because  in  them  the 
style  of  dress  and  armour  is  usually  Asiatic,  and  of 
a  date  long  anterior  to  Phidias  and  Zeuxis,  who 
were  the  masters  of  the  Greek  school  in  Europe. 
It  would  appear  that  Corinth  was   famed  for   its 
industry,   commerce,   and    riches,    in    the   days   of 
Homer ;  and  that  of  its  two   ports,  the  one  carried 
on  a  traffic  with  Asia,  and  the  other  with  Italy,  thus 
concentrating  and  connecting  the  civilisation  of  all 
these  countries,  for  the  ships  of  Etruria  would  meet 
there  the  ships  of  Tyre  and  Egypt ;  and  it  may  not 
be  irrelevant  to  remark,  that  Egypt  was  included 
by  the  ancients  in  Asia.     Cypselus,  the  tyrant  of 
Corinth,  is  said  to  have  had  his  furniture  made  by 
native  artists  upon  Asiatic  models,  and  it  is  proba- 
ble that  the  best  of  the  artists  fled  from  him  under 
Demaratus.     Such  vases  as  the  Dodwell  must  have 
been  made  in  quantities    about  that  time,   as    we 
learn  from  Strabo,  and  they  were  dedicated  to  the 
d/:ad,  and  bore  afterwards  in  Rome  the  name  of 
Necro-Corinthian. 

The  deities  chiefly  found  upon  the  vases  at  Vulci 
are  Hercules,  Minerva,  Apollo,  and  Diana,  and 
these  were  the  chief  gods  of  Sicyon,  where  there 
was  also  a  famous  school  of  terra  cotta,  which  may 
have  furnished  patterns  to  Vulci,  as  Paris,  Dresden, 
and  China  now  do  to  us.  Both  the  Ionic  and  the 
Doric  dialect  are  found  upon  vases  excavated  here. 


296 


vui-cr. 


J 

I. 


Those  which  have  an  eye  upon  them,  Micali  be- 
lieves to  be  peculiar  to  Vulci,  where  they  are 
found  in  the  greatest  numbers,  and  to  Chiusi.  It  is 
true  that  eye  vases  are  found  sometimes  both  in 
Sicily  and  in  Campania,  but  there  is  every  reason 
to  believe  that  they  came  there,  as  the  Dodwell 
did  to  Rome,  by  commerce  or  by  travel.  Funeral 
pomp  was  carried  to  its  greatest  height  from  the 
first  to  tlie  third  century  of  Rome  ;  and  the  red 
figured  vases  are  considered  as  posterior  to  this 
date,  and  have  continued  in  use  along  with  other 
styles  until  about  200  years  prior  to  the  christian 
era. 

Many  vases  have  the  Bacchic  orgies  represented 

upon  them,  therefore  it  is  certain  that  such   vases 

were  used  after   the  time  when  these  orgies  were 

practised,  and  they  are  said  to  have  been  introduced 

into  Central  Etruria  from  Capua  in  the  sixth  cen- 

tury  of  Rome,— i.  e.  between  200  and  300  years  b.c. 

They   may,   however,  have  been  painted  upon  the 

vases  before  they  were  introduced  into  the  country, 

especially  if  we   suppose    that   some   of    the    rich 

Vulcians,  a  travelling  and  commercial  people,  may 

have  been  imitated  at  Capua.     The  Bacchic  rites 

could  never  have  been  general  in  Etruria,  for  the 

nation,   though    luxurious    and    indolent,  has   left 

more  evidences  of  purity  and  fewer  of  dissoluteness, 

as  Niebuhr  justly  observes,  than  any  other  civilised 

people,  and  the  loose   characters  satyrized  by  the 

Roman  poets,  appear  to  have  been  monsters  amongst 

their  countrymen,  and  not  samples  of  them.     The 


i' 


VULCI. 


297 


Bacchic  vases,  or  those  supposed  to  represent  these 
mysteries,  are  more  numerous  at  Vulci  than  else- 
where, and  in  the  graves  of  the  rich  only;  pro- 
bably of  persons  who  had  been  initiated,  and  who, 
like  most  of  the  children  of  darkness,  gloried  in 
their  shame.  The  abolition  of  the  Bacchic  rites, 
no  doubt,  affected  also  the  art  which  had  protected 
them,  and  painted  vases  fell  into  disuse,  after  they 
had  been  prostituted  to  minister  to  vice.  Bodies 
began  to  be  more  frequently  burnt  than  before,  and 
the  Roman  modes  took  tlie  place  of  national  cus- 
toms, with  those  who  were  now  Roman  subjects. 
Those  who  did  not  condescend  to  the  unpainted  urn, 
took  to  the  small  stone  chest,  on  which  were  still 
sculptured  the  monsters,  the  genii,  and  other  sym- 
bols of  the  ancient  faith.  In  the  days  of  Julius 
Csesar  and  Augustus,  painted  vases  were  exhibited 
in  the  shops  of  Rome,  and  looked  upon  exactly  as 
they  are  now.  They  were  called  "  curious  antiqui- 
ties," and  were  brought  sometimes  from  Capua, 
where  they  were  found  in  a  very  few  tombs,  as  we  are 
told  by  Suetonius,  and  in  great  numbers  from 
Corinth,  where  they  were  found  in  almost  every 
tomb,  as  we  are  told  by  Strabo.  He  says  that  the 
new  inhabitants  of  Corinth,  i.  e.  the  colony  sent 
there  by  Augustus,  in  excavating  amongst  the  ruins, 
and  exploring  the  ancient  sepulchres,  found  quan- 
tities of  terra  cotta  vases,  and  bronzes  wrought  in 
alto  relievo,  and  that  the  beauty  of  these  articles 
was  so  much  admired,  that  they  left  no  tomb  un- 
searched.     They  sold  them  at  high  prices,  and  filled 

o  5 


II 


298 


VULCI. 


Rome  with  Necro-Corinthian,  the  name  he  gives 
the  vases,  and  which  he  says  were  as  much  esteemed 
as  the  bronzes ;  but  at  length  the  mine  became  ex- 
hausted of  all  that  was  really  worth  having,  and  the 
vessels  which  remained  in  Corinth,  of  a  coarser  clay, 
and  far  more  ordinary  use,  would  not  repay   the 
trouble  of    exporting   them.      The    Romans   little 
dreamed  of  such  a  store  of  them  quietly  lying  within 
a   hundred   miles  of  their  own   gates.     It  is  to  this 
period,  from  the  beginning  of  the  empire  onwards, 
that  we  mav  refer  the  number  of  rude  imitations  of 
Egyptian   objects  which  are  often  found   in   tombs 
that  do  not  indicate  a  higher  antiquity.     They  are 
of  barbarous  workmanship,  and  altogether  different 
from  the  extraordinary  tomb  lately  opened   by  Lu- 
cien.     Many  Egyptian  things  have  for  years  been 
found  in  Vulci ;  and  Prof.   Roselini  says  that  all 
those  he  has  seen  of  any  excellence  are  of  a  date 
prior  to  the   Lagidi.     I  must  mention,  that  whilst 
the  graves  of  Tarquinia  have,  in  a  mass,  been  ra- 
vaged, those  of  Vulci   have,  with   few  exceptions, 
been  left  untouched.     It  is  extremely  interesting  to 
see  within  the  ruins  of  the  city  the  spot  on    which 
the  terra  cotta  manufactory  was  discovered,  with  its 
large  heaps  of  broken  and  useless  pottery.     It  had 
most  likely  served  as  a  sort  of  monte  testaccio  to 
the  Roman  and  Christian  days  of  ancient  Vulci. 

In  the  excavations  which  have  been  made  on  the 
site  of  the  city,  innumerable  heaps  of  this  ware 
have  been  found,  and  among  them  some  magnificent 
specimens  of  art.     Of  these  monuments    in    terra 


1 


(41 


t' 


I 


VULCI. 


299 


cotta^  there  are  two  great  divisions :  first,  statuary 
and  votive  monuments;  and  second,  monuments 
which  have  reference  to  architecture.  Persons 
who  could  not  afford  statues  of  bronze,  represented 
their  divinities  in  baked  clay.  But  though  these 
terra  cotta  images  must  have  been,  among  a  super- 
stitious people,  infinite,  it  would  be  false  to  suppose 
that  most  of  those  which  are  now  found  were  of 
gods  and  heroes.  Most  of  them  are  likenesses  of 
individuals,  and  votive  images,  which  were  hung  up 
out  of  gratitude  in  the  temples,  to  commemorate 
pieces  of  good  fortune,  cures  of  disease,  &:c.  &:c.  One 
of  the  most  frequent  uses  of  terra  cotta  likenesses 
was  to  decorate  the  lids  of  sarcophagi,  and  few  sights 
are  more  curious  and  impressive  than  the  interior 
of  one  of  the  larger  Etruscan  sepulchres,  with  ten  or 
a  dozen  large  coffins  ranged  around  its  walls,  each 
covered  with  a  recumbent  figure  as  large  as  life, 
of  a  majestic  Lucumo,  or  a  richly  adorned  lady,  re- 
presenting the  person  whose  bones  were  deposited 
within.  These  figures  were  sometimes  made  of 
stone,  but  more  frequently  of  terra  cotta.  Con- 
nected with  these  are  funereal  lamps  of  terra  cotta, 

*  I  use  this  expression,  as  distinguished  from  Etruscan  vases,  (which 
are  also  in  fact  made  of  terra  cotta,)  to  denote  objects  formed  of  baked 
clay,  and  not  painted.  Of  this  sort,  though  not  Etruscan,  are  the 
beautiful  vases  which  have  been  found  at  Pompeii.  But  the  Etruscans 
were  the  great  masters  in  the  art  of  making  them,  as  well  as  those  ob- 
jects in  terra  cotta  which  are  now  exclusively  called  after  their  name. 
The  richest  assemblage  of  the  former  that  I  have  seen  is  in  the  Gre- 
gorian museum,  and  in  the  private  collection  of  Chevalier  Campana, 
both  of  which  have  been  mentioned  in  the  introductory  chapter. 


.1 


300 


VULCI. 


which  were  lighted  up  for  the  last  functions  of  the 
dead,  and  which  were  generally  placed  upon  small 
altars  of  the  same  material,  where  they  were  kept 
burning  in  honour  of  a  divinity.  It  may  be  that 
the  lights  now  used  in  churches  have  some  relation 
to  these. 

But  terra  cotta  was  used  as  frequently  for  ar- 
chitectural and  decorative  purposes  by  the  ancient 
Etruscans,  and  from  them  the  art  was  handed  down 
to  the  Romans,  who  employed  it  in  some  of  their 
finest  buildings,  such  as  the  Pantheon.  The  roofs 
of  Etruscan  houses  appear  to  have  been  covered 
with  tiles,  ornamented  with  masks  and  other  deco- 
rations;  and  the  ducts  for  letting  rain-water  off  the 
roofs  were  of  the  same  material,  and  similarly 
adorned.  Statues  of  terra  cotta  were  also  usual  in 
what  may  be  called  the  frontispiece  of  the  roof,  just 
as  we  find  groups  in  marble  surmounting  the  archi- 
trave of  Grecian  temples.  Tlie  excavations  which 
have  been  made  on  the  site  of  the  Vulcian  city 
have  produced  great  quantities  of  these  architectural 
ornaments,  and  the  moulds  and  manufactory  have 
been  discovered  where  they  all  were  made.  Vulci 
was  famous  for  its  statuary  in  the  days  of  Servius 
Tullius, 

The  necropolis  covers  a  wide  extent  of  ground  on 
the  side  of  the  river  opposite  to  the  castle.  Here, 
as  in  most  other  places,  a  sepulchre  had  no  sooner 
been  excavated  and  rifled  of  its  contents,  than  it  is 
filled  up,  and  only  two  or  three  continued  open. 
To  these,  situated  at  the  distance  of  half  a  mile  over 


>i 


///// 


F  304 


sr///^'  /■/////    7r////A\  ^/-     '      '  f 


/>/// 


//    /'////    '//    /-//// 


/•/ 


/•)f//  ■  s-///f ///■//  r/'^r  rr  r/n   ir..-n/,!//r  i-r^f  //'v///  >>f  ]''/>' 


HfStf'/  ff^>"^f     ^'/     ^/^///    ^/    Tr//f^/   'fS    ////     /////////////'/    ''//*    l///fi 


I. 


VULCI. 


301 


a  corn-field,  we  were  escorted  by  a  soldier  of  the 
garrison.  The  entrance  to  them  was  by  a  descent 
of  some  steps,  and  a  very  low  stone  door,  through 
which  we  crept  with  considerable  difficulty,  and 
which  admitted  us  into  a  small  chamber  where  we 
could  not  stand  upright,  the  walls  and  roof  of  which 
were  not  painted,  but  were  adorned  with  pilasters 
and  roof-trees  of  a  sort  of  corded  ornament.  In 
one  of  these  tombs  an  interior  low  door  led  into  an 
inner  chamber  of  larger  size  and  similar  appearance. 
In  another  the  roof  exhibited  a  peculiarity  of  orna- 
ment, that  part  nearest  the  entrance  forming  a  sort 
of  vestibule,  coming  out  in  a  fan-like  shape  with 
curious  carving. 

Some  sepulchres  have  been  recently  discovered, 
remarkable  from  the  number  of  chambers  into  which 
they  were  divided,  and  from  their  roofs,  which  were 
constructed  in  imitation  of  those  in  ordinary  use. 
Of  these  some  idea  may  be  formed  from  the  accom- 
panying drawing.  (Figs.  4,  5.)  It  would  almost 
seem  as  if  the  Etruscans  had  a  presentiment  that  in 
distant  times  their  name  and  race  were  destined  to 
be  rescued  from  oblivion  by  their  tombs,  for  they 
have  not  only  left  subterranean  traces  of  their  exist- 
ence for  miles  round  the  bite  of  their  principal 
cities,  but  have  erected  lofty  monuments  whose  ruins 
now  fill  the  beholder  with  wonder,  differing  as  they 
do  from  all  others  in  their  architectural  shape.  I 
have  already  had  occasion  to  remark,  that  a  favou- 
rite way  of  building  with  them  was  to  erect  a  conical 
mound   of  earth,  surrounded   by  a  circle  of  mason- 


302 


VULCI. 


work ;  and  somelimes  out  of  this  mound  high  towers 
rose  from  the  centre  and  corners.     A   ruined  spe- 
cimen of  this  mode  of  building,  on  a  very  small 
scale,  and  having  had  the  cone  formed  of  stone  in- 
stead of  earth,  is  the  tomb  which  is  familiar  to  every 
one  between   Albano   and   Aricia,   and  which  has 
been  commonly  called  that  "  of  the  Horatii."     It  is, 
however,  altogether   Etruscan,   and  the  most   ap- 
proved theory  of  its  history  is,  that  it  was  erected  to 
Aruns,  son   of  Lars   Porsenna,   who  was  slain   in 
battle  at  Aricia  by  Aristodemus  of  Cumse.     In  this 
style  was  the  famous  tomb  of  Lars  Porsenna  himself 
at  Clusium,  of  which  so  extraordinary  and  probably 
fabulous  an    account   is   given,  with    its   labyrinth 
within  the  mass  of  the  building,  surmounted  by  five 
lofty  towers,  covered  with  a  bronze  roof,  from  which 
arose  one,  if  not  two  or  more  stories  of  spires  tower- 
ing aloft  to  an  incredible  height,  and  furnished  with 
a  vast   peal   of  bells.      One   of  the  most   singular 
monuments  of  this  description  now  extant  is  situated 
at  about  a  couple  of  miles  fromPonte  Labadia,  near 
the  road  by  which  we  returned  to  Corneto.     It  is 
called  the  Cucumella,  and  consists  of  a  great  mound 
of  earth  which,  on  being  opened,  was  found  to  con- 
tain the  remains  of  a  square  tower  and  round  tower, 
which  had  formerly  risen  high  above  the  earthen 
cone  which  embanked  them,  and  at  the  bottom  of 
which    had  been   the  sepulchral  chambers,  where 
there   were   doors   which   had  communicated   with 
the  ancient  entrance  of  the  mound.     All  around 
were  the  remains  of  a  massive  circle  of  masonry. 


o. 


u/^^. 


I*  303 


/ 


w 


VULCI. 


303 


1 TT— T 


/^,///f/f/iS    rf     fi'r    ^  '///•//////////   ///  ] //// r 


/'///  V 


T'/'m//     ri//.s/sfff"f   f'T    ///'// 'V   r//^//////r/:\    //'   /  v/ 


SecfiPn  f'/^f  //i/f/fy  ^•/'///>^/>/y/y/  /^y////  ''//  V>f//T 


like  what  has  been  already  described  at  Tarquinia 
and  Monterone.  I  am  not  aware  that  any  objects 
of  value  were  found  in  this  tomb.  As  it  was  pro- 
bably the  distinguished  sepulchre  of  some  most 
illustrious  individual  or  race,  it  was  of  course  rifled 
of  its  contents  at  an  early  period  by  a  barbarous 
Roman,  or  some  little  less  barbarous  Goth,  while 
the  more  private  tombs  were  left  undisturbed,  to 
be  objects  of  curiosity  or  matter  of  gain  to  a  Prince 
of  Canino,  or  a  Roman  antiquary  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Though  the  remains  of  the  Cucumella 
are  not  very  considerable,  it  is  well  worth  while 
to  visit  it,  in  order  to  obtain  an  idea  of  one  of  the 
styles  of  sepulchral  architecture  by  which  the  bodies 
of  the  most  illustrious  among  the  aristocracy  of 
Etruria  were  honoured.  Painted  tombs  like  those 
of  Tarquinia  have  been  found  at  Vulci,  but  we  did 
not  see  them. 

Micali  describes  the  Cucumella  as  he  saw  it  in 
1830,  and  it  is  a  very  good  description  of  it  still. 
About  a  third  part  was  laid  bare,  and  showed  the 
doors  from  space  to  space  in  the  surrounding  wall ; 
also,  one  door  in  the  round  tower,  and  an  upper 
door  in  the  square  tower,  which  must  have  con- 
tained the  principal  grave.  The  masonry  was  of 
large  stones  laid  together  without  cement,  and  on 
the  top  of  the  cone  were  several  winged  sphynxes, 
whilst  over  the  lower  doors  were  lions  and  griffins. 
The  doors  were  in  pointed  arches,  and  the  chambers 
hewn  out  of  the  living  rock.  Some  of  them  were 
plastered   round    with  a  strong  black  stucco,  and 


304 


VULCI. 


VULCI. 


305 


had  a  cornice  of  ivy  and  myrtle  leaves  covered  with 
leaf  gold.  The  stucco  was  plentiful ;  the  cornice 
only  a  fragment,  and  must  when  entire  have  had  a 
very  solemn  and  strange  effect. 

Our  desire  to  see  the  Egyptian  tomb  of  which 
the  contents  had  so  deeply  interested  us,  and  which 
had  been  found  near  Vulci,  was  not  gratified,  as  it 
had  been  filled  up  as  soon  as  its  treasures  were  re- 
moved. The  cemetery  of  Vulci  must  have  been 
of  immense  extent,  for,  at  a  still  greater  distance 
than  the  Cucumella  from  Ponte  Labadia,  we  visited 
some  tombs  which  had  lately  been  excavated,  and 
were  still  open.  These  lay  entirely  uncovered,  like 
very  large  and  immensely  deep  modern  graves,  and 
we  thought  we  traced  a  close  approximation  to  the 
Roman  columbaria,  in  the  niches  hewn  in  the  faces 
of  the  rock  which  formed  the  sides  of  the  grave, 
and  in  which  the  bones  and  ashes  of  the  deceased 
had  been  deposited.  There  were  hea})S  of  broken 
vases  and  cinerary  urns,  but  all  of  the  most  ordi- 
nary quality,  though  of  elegant  shapes,  lying  about 
in  every  direction.  And  at  the  bottom  of  some  of 
the  graves  we  saw  thin  plates  of  metal,  which  looked 
as  if  they  had  once  belonged  to  armour;  but  our 
search  for  anything  worth  picking  up  was  fruitless. 

We  did  not  proceed  to  Cosa,  neither  do  I  know 
whether  any  graves  have  been  excavated  there,  but 
its  walls  are  more  entire  than  those  of  any  other 
Etruscan  town  remaining,  and  an  arch  and  several 
towers  may  be  traced.  Saturnia,  not  far  from  it,  but 
inland  upon  the  Albegna,  has  the  sauie  sort  of  walls, 


and  there  painted  graves  have  been  found.  Many 
of  the  old  towns  upon  the  sea,  where  Italians  some- 
times  go  to  shoot  the  wild  boar,  must  offer  a  rich 
field  to  an  antiquary,  if  it  is  true,  as  I  have  heard, 
that  columns,  and  the  heads  and  legs  and  arms  of 
statues,  are  sometimes  seen  sticking  out  into  the 
water,  or  extending  over  it,  soliciting,  as  it  were, 
either  to  be  brought  forth  to  the  light  of  day,  or  to' 
be  allowed  a  comfortable  rest  beneath  the  blue  and 
quiet  waves.  We  found  the  great  crimes,  and  those 
most  execrated  in  this  part  of  the  country,  to  be 
sheep-stealing  and  shooting  the  wild  boar  out  of 
season.  It  was  really  refreshing  to  see  the  indig- 
nation which  these  excited,  and  that  worse  things 
are,  comparatively,  unheard  of  and  unknown.  After 
leaving  Vulci,  a  drive  of  about  four  hours  more 
brought  us  back  to  Corneto,  where  we  related  the 
events  of  a  most  interesting  day  to  the  excellent 
gonfaloniere  over  our  supper  table.* 

*  See  Appendix  G. 


306 


CHAPTER  VI. 


TUSCAKIA,   OR    TOSCANELLA. 

The  day  after  our  return  from  the  plain  of  Vulci, 
where  the  existence  of  a  rich  and  prosperous  city 
has  been  in  these  latter  times  detected  by  its  broken 
potsherds,  we  prepared  to  set  out  upon  a  new  ex- 
ploring expedition  to  another  seat  of  old  Etruscan 
greatness,  Tuscania,  or  as  it  is  now  called  Toscanella. 
We  are,  if  possible,  still  more  ignorant  of  the  exist- 
ence and  fortunes  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  this 
city  than  of  those  of  Vulci,  though  their  abode  has 
never  been  actually  blotted  out  of  the  map  of  Italy 
as  that  of  the  neighbouring  Vulci  has  been;  for 
while  the  stalactyte  grotto  is  now  all  that  adorns  the 
banks  of  the  Flora,  and  the  ruined  Cucumella  stands 
solitary  on  the  plain,  the  w^ell-girt,  turreted,  and 
highly  picturesque  town  of  Toscanella  towers  over 
the  distant  landscape,  and  proclaims  that  whatever 
may  have  been  the  greatness  of  ancient  Tuscania, 


TUSCANIA. 


307 


she  has  left  a  representative  not  unworthy  of  her, 
at  least  in  beauty  and  romantic  situation. 

Descending  from  the  heights  of  Corneto,  and 
winding  down  the  valley  beneath  its  summit,  we 
found  the  road  at  first  exceedingly  pretty.  It  encir- 
cles the  base  of  the  hill  on  which  stands  the  town, 
and  commands  a  fine  view  of  that  valley  which  sepa- 
rated ancient  Tarquinia  from  its  necropolis.  We 
admired  the  steep  cliffs  of  the  Monterozzi,  and  re- 
cognized the  position  of  the  Grotta  Delia  Biga,  and 
of  the  other  sepulchres  which  overhang  the  valley, 
until  this  interesting  scene  was  shut  out  from  view 
by  the  rocky  ridge  of  Turchina,once  crowned  by  the 
ancieutcapital,  and  then  we  passed  through  a  desolate 
country  and  along  a  wretched  road,  which  I  believe 
have  never  before  been  traversed  by  such  a  vehicle 
as  the  heavy  Roman  berline,  which  now  contained  the 
whole  ofour  party.  Not  all  theexertions  of  four  excel- 
lent horses,  nor  the  flagellations  and  execrations  of  our 
coachman,  availed  to  save  us  from  frequently  sticking 
fast  in  the  ground,  and  having  to  dismount  ever  and 
anon  and  go  on  foot ;  and  from  our  experience,  I 
would  recommend  to  others  a  very  light  carriage,  or 
if  their  carelessness  of  comfort  and  the  season  of  the 
year  permit  it,  an  open  carritella,  as  being  the  best 
adapted  for  such  an  excursion,  unless  it  can  be  made 
on  horseback.  At  length  our  hopes  of  deliverance 
from  our  unpleasant  predicament  were  animated  by 
the  many  pinnacles  of  Toscanella,  which  we  descried 
in  the  distance.     As  we  approached  nearer,  we  saw 


308 


TUSCANIA. 


TUSCANIA. 


309 


a  hill  crowned  with  a  mass  of  high  walls,  and 
flanked  by  clusters  of  round  towers,  which  gave  the 
place  a  very  striking  and  fortified  appearance,  and 
recalled  the  middle  ages,  when  Toscanella  was  long 
under  the  sway  of  a  line  of  powerful  feudal  lords, 
who  tyrannised  over  the  neighbouring  country. 

We  halted  before  the  principal  gate,  and  began 
to  consult  as  to  how  and  where  we  were   to  pass 
the  night,  a  subject  which  we   had  omitted,  in   the 
course  of  conversation  upon  what  vve  thought  more 
materially  concerned  the  objects  of  the  expedition. 
We  had  been  more   occupied  with  sepulchres  than 
dining-rooms,  and  with  sarcophagi  than  feather  beds  ; 
and  now,  when  we  awoke  to  our  position,  and  con- 
sidered that  there  was  no  inn  here  as  at  Corneto,  and 
that  our  friends  Mr.  Bunsen,  the  Prussian  minister 
at  Rome,  and   his  family,  in  a  late  excursion  which 
they  had  made,  were  hospitably  received  by  a  noble 
family  in  Toscanella,  and  entertained  by  them  for 
several  nights,  the  question  arose  with  disagreeable 
perplexity,  what  we  were  to  do  ?  We  had  a  letter  of 
introduction  to  one  whom  we  expected  to  find  emi- 
nently useful  to  us,  but  on   whom  we  were   fearful 
of  trespassing  too  much,  as  his  occupations  were 
many,  and  his  house  might  not  be  sufficiently  large 
to  contain  so  numerous  a  party,  even  were  he  hos- 
pitably  disposed.      This    was   Signer    Campanari, 
with  whose  name  all  who  have  seen  the  beautiful 
antiquities    which   he   has    brought   to    this    coun- 
try, must  be  acquainted.      We  made  our  berline 


(a  more  capacious  and  heavy  carriage  than  ever 
before,  as  I  should  think,  traversed  the  no  roads 
of  old  Etruria)  wait  at  the  city  gates,  whilst  we 
held  an  anxious  council  as  to  the  proper  course  to 
take,  for  the  evening  was  rapidly  turning  into  night, 
and  we  contemplated  the  possibility  of  either  sleep- 
ing crowded  in  the  carriage,  or  each  on  two  chairs 
in  some  pot-house,  the  only  representative  of  an 
hotel  which  exists  in  Toscanella. 

At  length  our  necessities  overcame  our  modesty, 
and  we  desired  our  coachman  to  drive  to  the  door  of 
Signor  Campanari,  in  the  hope  that  if  he  did  not 
himself  take  us  in,  he  would  at  least  put  us  on  the 
way  of  procuring  accommodation  elsewhere  ;  but  as 
we  were  afraid  of  the  carriage  sticking  in  the  narrow, 
twisted,  and  steep  streets  of  the  odd  old  town,  we 
dismounted  in  order  to  walk  on  before,  inquiring  the 
w^ay  to  the  place  of  our  destination.  While  yet 
arranging  these  matters  before  the  gate,  we  saw  a 
gentleman  in  black  approaching  from  the  country, 
followed  by  several  workmen  bearing  shovels  and 
mattocks.  We  felt  a  presentiment  that  this  strano*er 
was  to  have  a  material  influence  on  our  visit  to  Tos- 
canella, which  was  confirmed  by  observing  that  his 
clothes  were  soiled  with  clay,  and  that  he  held  in 
his  hands  an  instrument  of  bronze  which  had  evi- 
dently not  seen  the  workshop  for  more  than  two 
thousand  years.  Following  the  impulse  which 
brings  "  together  birds  of  a  feather,"  we  recognised 
in  the  stranger  a  veteran  Scavatore ;  and  trusting 
that  he  would  have  a  fellow  feeling  for  us,  who 


310 


TUSCANIA. 


TUSCANIA. 


311 


wished  to  be  what  he  was,  but  lacked  opportunity, 
and  who  were  come  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  and 
learning  that  in  which  he  was  conversant — we  ad- 
dressed ourselves  to  him,  inquiring  the  way  to  the 
house  of  Signor  Campanari.  "  I  am  Campanari," 
said  he,  and  then  he  explained  to  us  that  he  was 
returning  home  after  his  day's  work  among  the 
extensive  excavations  which  he  was  then  carrying 
forward. 

We  mentioned  who  we  were,  and  by   whom  we 
were  recommended  :  and  while   Signor  Campanari 
was  perusing  the  letter  which  we  brought  him,  one 
of  our  party  examined  the  bronze  instrument  which 
he  had  brought  in    his  hand.     It  was  a  strigil  or 
scraping  instrument  used  in  the  baths,  and  which 
had  been  buried  in  its  proprietor's  tomb.     As  a  spe- 
cimen it  wjis  very  fine,  though  extremely  fragile,  as 
our  poor  friend  found  to  his  cost;  for  on  examining 
it   with  great   curiosity,  and  turning  it  round  and 
round  in  his  hand,  the  beautiful  strigil  separated  in 
two  pieces,  and  he   remained  aghast  in  an  astonish- 
ment which  produced  in  us  feelings  both  of  laughter 
and  despair,  with  a  fragment  of  the  strigil  in  each 
extended  hand.     What  will  Signor  Campanari  say, 
thought  each  one  of  us,  when  he  looks  up  from  his 
letter  and  finds  his  beautiful  strigil  broken  ?    Every 
favourable  impression  will  be  dispelled,  which  may 
have  been  produced  in  his  mind  by  the  energy  of  a 
large  foreign  party,  who  have  come  rumbling  over 
the  desolate  and  untrodden  moors  of  Tuscania,  in 
a  vast  Roman  berline,  in  search   of  the   profound 


) 


at  the  bottom  of  an  Etruscan  tomb;  and  every 
favourable  sentiment  produced  by  the  recommenda- 
tion of  our  friend,  will  immediately  vanish  when 
he  casts  his  eyes  on  the  luckless  knight  of  the 
strigil.  The  character  of  destructiveness  too  justly 
acquired  by  our  countrymen  flashed  across  our 
minds,  and  we  contemplated  nothing  but  exclusion 
from  museums  and  tombs,  a  melancholy  evening,  on 
our  own  resources,  and  a  night  on  hard  boards.  We 
were,  however,  speedily  reassured  by  the  benevolent 
smile  which  crossed  over  Campanari's  face  when 
he  had  read  the  letter,  and  which  was  not  in  the 
least  clouded  by  the  discovery  of  the  accident. 
He  said  the  loss  of  the  strigil  was  of  no  conse- 
quence, and  immediately  invited  us  to  his  father's 
house,  regretting  that  it  could  not  contain  the  whole 
party,  though  he  trusted  to  procure  accommodation 
for  the  rest  in  the  neighbourhood.  We  now  gave 
the  order  of  march  to  our  lumbering  berline,  and 
preceded  it  in  the  train  of  our  new  acquaintance, 
under  castellated  walls,  and  through  the  turreted 
gate  of  the  quaint  old  town.  After  mounting  and 
crossing  sundry  steep  and  perplexed  streets,  we 
found  ourselves  at  the  door  of  the  Casa  Campanari, 
where  we  were  installed  with  such  a  welcome  as  only 
genuine  hospitality  can  give,  which  grudges  no  in- 
convenience, and  only  fears  to  appear  sensible  of 
the  favour  which  it  confers. 

We  were  no  sooner  settled  at  Campanari's,  than 
we  besought  him  to  inform  us  concerning  his  ex- 
cavations, and,  if  possible,  to  procure  for  us  the 


312 


TUSCANIA. 


pleasure  of  witnessing  the  opening  of  a  tomb.  The 
one  wish  he  immediately  proceeded  to  gratify,  and 
he  gave  us  hopes  that  the  other  might  be  accom- 
plished in  the  morning.  The  Campanari  family 
have  been  constantly  engaged  in  making  excavations, 
since  the  gfrand  discoveries  of  the  Prince  of  Canino, 
which  gave  a  stimulus  to  the  curiosity  or  desire  of 
gain  of  all  who  had  land  near  the  site  of  ancient 
cities,  or  money  to  lay  out  in  this  new  species  of 
mining.  Among  the  sepulchral  chambers  of  Tus- 
cania,  his  native  place,  as  well  as  in  the  neighbour- 
ing Vulci,  he  has  been  eminently  successful,  and 
has,  in  the  course  of  the  last  ten  or  twelve  years, 
disinterred  great  treasures  of  gold  and  jewelled 
ornaments,  bronzes,  specchii,  vases,  and  sarcophagi, 
with  portrait  lids.  Some  of  the  most  beautiful  vases 
in  Rome,  as  well  as  in  foreign  museums,  came 
orio-inally  from  his  excavations  at  a  little  distance 
from  Toscanella  ;  and  he  presented  to  a  former 
pope,  as  the  first  fruits  of  his  labours,  the  splendid 
vase  with  inscriptions,  which  we  had  often  admired 
in  the  Vatican  library,  and  which  represents  some 
of  the  Grecian  heroes  of  the  Trojan  war,  beguiling 
the  tedium  of  the  siege  with  a  game  of  chess. 

Campanari's  eye  immediately  rested  upon  a  Ro- 
man knight's  ring  of  massive  gold,  set  with  an 
emerald,  and  engraved  with  a  figureof  Venus  Victrix, 
which  adorned  the  finger  of  one  of  our  party,  and 
he  asked  if  it  came  from  his  tombs,  being  exactly 
of  the  form  and  setting  found  at  Toscanella ;  but 
it  belonged  to  the  late  Duke  of  Saxe  Gotha,  mater- 


TUSCANIA. 


313 


nal  grandfather  of  Prince  Albert,  husband  of  our 
Queen  ;  and  we  were  assured,  when  it  came  into  our 
possession  several  years  ago  in  Germany,  that  it  was 
from  Pompeii,  and  had  been  found  on  the  spot  by 
the  Duke  himself.*  When  we  learnt  the  excessive 
strictness  of  the  Neapolitan  government,  we  began 
to  tremble  for  the  pedigree  of  our  Venus  Victrix, 
but  we  were  reassured  by  being  shown  the  spot  at 
Pompeii  where  the  Duke  of  Saxe  Gotha  had  ascavo 
assigned  to  him  by  the  king,  with  all  its  proceeds, 
and  where  he  is  said  to  have  procured  many  valua- 
ble articles,  which  he  shipped  off  directly.  The 
king  of  Naples  occasionally  now  grants  similar  fa- 
vours to  illustrious  strangers,  and  when  we  were 
there,  Duke  Bernard  of  Saxe  Weimar  had  a  scavo 
allowed  him,  and  the  king  presented  to  him  as  a 
ofift  the  bronzes  which  he  had  found. 

There  is  one  improvement  at  Pompeii,  which  might 
be  effected  at  a  very  small  expense  and  trouble,  and 
which  would  do  more  than  many  pages  of  laboured 
description  to  convey  to  the  general  observer  an  ac- 
curate idea  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
ancients.  Some  one  of  the  most  perfect  and  beautiful 
of  the  houses  ought  to  be  selected  from  among  the 
many  that  are  perfect  and  beautiful,  that  of  the  tragic 
poet  for  instance.     It  should  be  roofed  in,  and  its 

*  The  date  of  this  ring  is  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar,  and  it  proba- 
bly belonged  to  some  officer  of  rank  in  his  army  ;  for  it  is  an  his- 
torical fact,  that  gold  seal  rings,  with  an  intaglio  of  Venus  Victrix 
on  emerald,  were  worn  by  his  most  zealous  adherents  as  a  badge 
of  partizanship. 


314 


TUSCANIA. 


walls,  in  any  places  where  they  are  imperfect,  com- 
pleted to  the  roof,  and  then  it  should  be  thoroughly 
furnished  on  the  scale  of  a  Roman  gentleman's 
dwellino-,  from  the  inexhaustible  store  of  articles 
contained  in  the  Museo  Borbonico.  As  the  pre- 
sent minister  of  the  interior  is  a  man  of  antiqua- 
rian tastes  and  pursuits,  we  are  astonished  that  this 
very  easy,  and  on  the  whole,  cheap  way  of  repro- 
ducing a  classical  dwelling  has  not  occurred  to  him. 
The  Queen  Dowager  one  day  talking  on  this  sub- 
ject, mentioned  to  us  that  it  was  an  idea  which  had 
formerly  struck  her,  and  that  she  had  even  suggested 
its  accomplishment. 

But  I  have  wandered  too  far  from  central  Etruria, 
into  the  Etruscan  confederation  of  the  twelve  cities 
of  Campania,  and,  moreover,  I  have  made  an  un- 
warrantable stride  as  to  time,  from  the  early  re- 
public to  the  middle  of  the  empire,  from  indepen- 
dent Tuscania  to  neat  little  Pompeii,  the  Clifton  or 
Hastings  of  the  Roman  world.  And  lastly,  I  have 
wearied  out  the  patience  of  worthy  Signor  Cam- 
panari,  who  is  waiting  to  show  us  the  recent  pro- 
duce of  his  excavations.  At  the  time  of  our  visit, 
he  had  no  great  stock  of  curiosities  by  him,  having 
recently  sold  great  numbers  of  things  to  various 
crowned  heads  and  museums ;  but  all  that  he  had 
was  fresh  from  the  tombs.  He  produced  two  very 
beautifully  engraved  specchii  which  he  had  found  a 
few  days  before,  and  an  exquisite  bronze  female 
head,  of  which  the  toupet  lifted  off,  forming  a 
smelling-bottle  :  on  this  he  set  a  great  value,  as  he 


TUSCANIA. 


315 


said  that  out  of  a  great  number  of  tombs  which  he 
had  explored,  he  had  seldom  been  so  fortunate  as 
to  find  any  similar.  He  had  a  good  many  sacri- 
ficial spoons  and  other  instruments,  specchii  of 
more  ordinary  quality,  and  two  beautiful  specimens 
of  early  Etruscan  coinage,  both  found  in  a  Tar- 
quinian  tomb,  and  both  now  in  our  possession. 
They  are  an  assis  and  a  semis.  The  former  was 
the  type  of  that  adopted  in  Rome  by  Servius  Tul- 
lius,  the  Volsinian  Mastarna,  having  ahead  of  Janus 
on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  the  prow  of  a  ship. 
The  latter  has  on  either  side  a  head  of  Minerva 
and  the  club  of  Hercules,  which  is  therewith  joined, 
to  denote  that  it  was  coined  or  rather  fused  on  occa- 
sion of  an  alliance  between  the  Etruscans  and  the 
Rutuli.  He  had  at  this  time  but  few  gold  orna- 
ments, as  he  showed  us  only  one  necklace  and  a 
beautiful  garland  of  leaves  for  the  head  ;  but  gold 
ornaments  are  commonly  found  at  Tuscania,  chiefly 
rings  and  clasps.  He  was  on  the  point  of  sending 
off  some  vases  to  England,  and  among  them  there 
were  one  or  two  of  unique  beauty. 

As  I  was  leaving  the  room  where  these  things  had 
been  exhibited,  I  perceived  a  small  basket  in  one  cor- 
ner containing  eggs,which  I  naturally  concluded  that 
Signor  Campanari  had  just  sent  out  to  procure 
fresh  for  our  supper:  when,  to  our  astonishment, 
he  informed  us  that  these  eggs  had  contributed  to 
a  funeral  feast  some  two  thousand  years  ago,  as  he 
had  found  them  in  the  tomb  which  he  had  been  that 
day  excavating.     It  has  already  been  remarked   in 

p  2 


316 


TUSCANIA. 


TUSCANIA. 


317 


the  description  of  the  pictured  walls  of  Tarquinia, 
that  many  of  the  guests  on  the  Triclinia  had  eggs 
in  their  hands,  and  that  they  were  the  ordinary 
comniencenient  of  an  Etruscan  banquet. 

But  until  a  real,  substantial,  and  non-funereal  sup- 
per could  be  got  ready,  the  elder  Signor  Campanari 
proposed  that  we  should  accompany  him  by   torch- 
light  to  visit   the  tomb   in   the  garden  behind    his 
house.     We  gladly  availed  ourselves  of  his  proposal, 
and  traversed  his  little  garden  on  a  walk  lined   on 
both    sides   with   sarcophagi,  each   one  being  sur- 
mounted by  a  recumbent  figure  of  terra  cotfca  as  large 
as  life,  and  similar  figures  looking  down  upon   us 
from  the  walls  above.    In  short,  the  whole  premises 
teemed  with  sepulchral  baked  clay,  some  reclining 
with  an  air  of  dignified  repose,  and  others  with  that 
exaggerated     appearance     and     distorted    position 
which  evinced  a  ruder  style,  and   had   been   the  re- 
presentation of  persons  of  inferior  rank  by  less  emi- 
nent artist«?. 

Signor  Campanari  explained  to  us  that  the  tomb 
he  was  conducting  us  to  see  had  been  built  by  him- 
self, on  the  exact  model  and  of  the  same  dimensions 
with  one  which  he  had  excavated  a  fiew  years  since, 
and  that  all  the  contents  of  the  original  had  been 
deposited  in  the  copy,  where  they  stood  tale  quale. 
On  opening  the  door,  which  was  in  the  style  of 
Monterone,  the  torches  illuminated  a  chamber 
nineteen  or  twenty  feet  square,  with  a  ledge  all 
round  it,  on  which  were  laid  with  great  regularity 
ten  or  a  dozen  sarcophagi.     They  were  covered  with 


1* 


their  lids,  each  having  a   well-executed   figure  of 
nenfrite  or  terra  cotta  as  large  as  life,  and  some- 
times of  a  size  almost  colossal,  representing  either 
men  of  grave  and  substantial  appearance,  with  torques 
round  the  neck,  and  ring  on  the  finger,  holding  in 
their  hands  a  patera  for  libations  ;  or  of  elegant  and 
richly  dressed  ladies,  their  heads  adorned  with  ivy 
and  myrtle  wreaths,  their   ears  with   graceful  pen- 
dants, their  necks  encircled  with  chains,  and  their 
arms  with  bracelets.     Behind  each   figure  ^vere  a 
number  of  vases  piled  up  in   irregular  heaps,  and 
some  of  them  hanging  above  them  by  bronze  nails 
in  the  wall.     None  of  these  vases  were  of  the  very 
finest  quality,  but  some  of  them  were  tolerably  good, 
and   most   of  them   were    in   perfect    preservation. 
Signor    Campanari  informed   us   that    at  Tuscania 
there  does  not  appear  to  have  been  a  distinguished 
school   of  pictorial  art.     Most   of  the    vases    that 
have  been  found  are  of  a  coarser  quality  and  infe- 
rior design  to  those  of  Vulci  and  Tarquinia,   while 
the  ornaments  of  gold   and  of  bronze  are  of  great 
beauty.     The  tomb  after  which  this  one  had  been 
modelled,  belonged  to  a  family  of  rank  and  conse- 
quence ;  and  if  very  fine  vases  had  been   manufiic- 
tured  at  Tuscania,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they 
would  have  been  found  in  this  and  similar  sepul- 
chres.    It  appears   to  have  been  from  feelings  of 
patriotism  that  the  noble    and  wealthy  families  of 
this  town   were  content  to  use  what  was  homely, 
because  it  was  their  own,  rather  than  purchase  what 
was  more  beautiful,  but  produced  by   another  city. 


318 


TUSCANIA. 


The  name  of  the  family  whose  tomb  we  were  visit- 
ing, Campanari  told  us,  was  VELTHURI,  as  proved 
by  the  inscriptions.     I  did  not  examine  any  of  these 
inscriptions,   but  from  subsequent  study  I  cannot 
doubt  that  VELTHUR  signifies  an  office  and  not  a 
person,  and  the  centre  sarcophagus  of  the  Velthuri 
was  probably  that  of  the  governor,  and  very  possibly 
of  the  hereditary  governor  of  Tnscania.     There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  the  Romans,  after  their  con- 
quest, made  many  of  the   local  governments  heredi- 
tary,  as  a  means  of  securing  their  own  power,  by 
strengthening  the  hands  of  the  grandees  against  the 
old  constitution,  and  the  ruling  Lucumo  might  be 
Velthur  of  the  place  instead  of  Lar.     A  sarcopha- 
gus larger  than  any  of  the  others  stood  in  the  middle 
of  the  chamber.     It  was  uncovered,  and  contained 
what  remained  of  the  skeleton  and  armour  of  the 
head  of  the  family  of  Velthuri.     There  he  lay  with 
his  helmet,  his  greaves,  and  his  two  spears,  after  the 
fashion  of  classical  antiquity,  and  all  around  him  in 
the   coffin  there  was  the   strangest  assemblage  of 
little  odds  and  ends  that  I  ever  saw.     If  we  may  be 
permitted  to  judge  of  the  old  warrior's  tastes,  by  the 
things  which  were  buried  along  with  him,  he  must 
in  his  day  and  generation  have  been  a  passionate 
lover  of  Rococo,  with  very  little  discrimination—in 
short,  a  collector  of  trash,  like  so  many  preservers  of 
pseudo-curiosities  amongst  ourselves.     There  were 
quantities  of  little  pieces  of  enamel,  and  transparent 
coloured  pastas,  clear  stones  or  compositions,  some 
like  topaz,  and  others  like  amethyst,  balls  of  per- 


TUSCANIA. 


319 


fume,  utensils  of  bronze  of  all  sorts,  shapes,   and 
sizes,  and  for  all  manner  of  uselessness.     And  lastly, 
I  pulled  out  what  gave  me  rather  an   unpleasant 
insight  into  Signor  Velthuri's  character,  and  a  bad 
idea  of  the  employment  of  his  lighter  hours — a  pair 
of  dice,  which,  if  my  memory  fails  me  not,  were 
loaded.     I  will  not  positively  say  that  General  Vel- 
thuri was  guilty  of  unfair  play,  butthis  must  have  been 
a  fashionable  vice  among  his  countrymen,  as  loaded 
dice  are  constantly  found.     Another  and  more  awful 
consideration  was  forced  upon  us  by  a  closer  inspec- 
tion of  this  large  sarcophagus.     On  both  sides  of  it 
there  is  unequivocally  represented  a  human  sacrifice. 
Whether   this  relates  to  any  act  of  old  Velthuri's 
life,  I  will  not  undertake  to  decide  ;  it  is  to  be  hoped 
not ;  yet  if  it  does,  however  horrible  it  may  be,  he 
is  not  without  precedents  among  the  most  distin- 
guished early  Grecian  chiefs.     But  the  subjects  of 
the  bassi  relievi  of  sarcophagi  have  often  no  relation 
to  the  individual,  but  are  national  and  historical. 
And  even  though  the  manners  of  Etruria  may  have 
been  stained  with  this  dreadful  barbarity,  they  were 
no  worse  than  those  of  the  Greeks,  the  Carthagi- 
nians, and  the  Romans.     Truly,  before  the  light  of 
Christianity  illumined  the  world,  the  nations  dwelt 
in  "  habitations  of  cruelty." 

In  making  our  arrangements  for  the  following 
day,  we  we  were  most  anxious,  had  it  been  possible, 
after  witnessing  the  opening  of  a  tomb  at  Tuscania, 
to  have  driven  to  Castel  d'Asso,  celebrated  for  its 
rock  sepulchres,  and  situated  considerably  off"  the 


320 


TUSCANIA. 


road,  nearly  half  way  between  Toscanella  and 
Viterbo.  We  were,  however,  assured  that  for  our 
large  carriage  the  country  round  Castel  d'Asso  was 
impracticable,  and  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  pro- 
cure a  carritella,  and  a  guide  properly  conversant 
with  the  road.  The  usual  way  of  seeing  Castel 
d'Asso  is  not  from  Toscanella,  but  from  Viterbo ; 
and  if  we  had  persevered  in  our  attempt,  more  time 
would  have  been  spent  than  we  had  to  spare.  We 
were  therefore  reluctantly  obliged  to  relinquish 
Castel  d'Asso,  until  we  should  go  to  Viterbo  on  a 
future  occasion,  and  we  limited  our  wishes  to  a  day 
in  ancient  Tuscania. 

On  the  following  morning  we  set  out  very  early  on 
foot  towards  the  excavation  which  SignorCampanari 
gave  us  the  hopes  of  seeing,  and  we  left  the  town  by 
the  gate  at  which  we  had  entered  on  the  preceding- 
night,  advancing  about  half  a  mile  along  the  road 
in  the  direction  from  whence  he  had  come,  strio-il  \u 
liand,   to  welcome  us  :   here  we    were  met    by  the 
overseer  of  his  excavations,  who   informed   us   that 
the  proposed  scavo  had  turned  out  a  failure,  he  hav- 
ing discovered  by  infallible  signs,  that  the  tomb  had 
been  opened   before.     Being  thus  disappointed   in 
the  object  of  our  immediate  interest,  Signor   Cam- 
panari  proposed  to  take  us  a  considerable  round,  in 
order   to  show    us    the    objects  best  worth  seeino-, 
both  in  the  abodes   of  the  dead   and  of  the  living. 
We  proceeded  in  the  direction  of  the  spot  where 
his  excavation  had  been  intended,  and  he  showed  us 
some  graves  which  he  had  opened  a  few  days  since, 


TUSCANIA. 


321 


and  from  which  one  or  two  of  those  sarcophagi  had 
been  taken,  which  we  had  seen  in  his  back  court. 
They  had  evidently  been  tombs  of  persons  in  hum- 
ble life  ;  the  sepulchral  chambers  were  small  and 
rude    burrows    underground  ?  and    here,    as    else- 
where, few  or  no  traces  w^ere  left  of  former  and 
more  important  excavations,  as  the  graves  were  no 
sooner  emptied  of  their  precious  contents  than  they 
were  filled  up  again.     A  little  further  on,  we  scram- 
bled  down    among    rocks    and    brushwood    to    the 
mouth  of  a  sepulchre  of  greater  importance,  which 
was  called  by  the  people  of  the   country  "  Grotta 
della  Regina,"  and  which  was  very  large  and   sin- 
gular   in    its  form.     The   entrance   was  by  a  long 
passage  cut  in  the  rock,  and  when  we  fairly  got  into 
the  cavern  we  were  struck  by  the  singular  mixture 
of  rude  nature  and  ancient  art,  for  the  roof  is  sup- 
ported   by  two  very  massive  pillars,  and   there  are 
traces  of  pilasters  cut  out  along  the  rugged  rock. 
It  is  altogether  a  most  irregular  chamber,  and  very 
inferior  to  that  which  it  most  nearly  resembles,   the 
Grotta   del    Cardinale  at  Tarquinia.     Behind    the 
upper  end  there  runs  a  circular  mine,  which  on  one 
side  extends  into  a  dark  passage  which  has  never 
been  explored.     The  position  of  Toscanella  and  of 
the  tombs  which  we  had  been  visiting,  reminded   us 
of  that  of  Tarquinia  and  its  necropolis,  the  general 
character  of  the  scenery  being  the  same,  though  in 
point  of  beauty  I  think  the  preference  must  be  given 
to  Toscanella. 


p  o 


322 


TUSCANIA. 


From  the  hill  of  the  tombs  there  is  a  very  fine 
view  of  the  opposite  height,  crowned  with  the  high 
turreted  walls  and  lofty  round  towers  of  the  town, 
and  of  a  still  higher  hill  without  the  walls,  on  which 
is  situated  the  church  of  San  Pietro.     Here,  as  at 
Vulci,  and  indeed  more  or  less  throughout  Etruria, 
we  were  tantalized  by  visiting  a  spot  which  must 
have  been  famed  for  many  important  events,  of  which 
no  recollection  now  remains,  and  which  must  have 
been  hallowed  by  so  many  interesting  associations,  if 
the  dead  could  be  made  to  speak  from  the  surround- 
ing tombs,  and  tell  us  what  they  once  were.     We  are 
profoundly  ignorant  of  Tuscania's  early  history  ;  we 
know  not  even  to  what  city  of  the  great  league  it  was 
attached,  though  we  may  conjecture  to  Tarquinia ; 
we  know  neither  when  or  how  it  fell,  nor  what  be- 
came of  it  after  its  fall.  We  know  that  it  was  a  strong 
and  important  place  in  feudal  times,  and  the  interest 
of  a  christian  antiquary  is  excited  by  its  ancient  and 
beautiful  church  which  I  have  just  mentioned.     Of 
this  we  had  heard  a  great  deal  before  we  left  Rome, 
and  it  was  said  to  be  the   most  ancient  church  in 
Italy,  of  the  early  gothic  style,  and  one  of  the  most 
curious  specimens  of  that  style  in  existence. 

We  descended  the  steep  hill  from  the  Grotta  della 
Regina,  crossed  over  the  valley,  and  recommenced 
an  ascent  up  the  hill,  which  is  crowned  by  the  ve- 
nerable church,  in  front  of  which  we  stopped  in 
order  to  contemplate  its  interesting  and  strange 
architecture.     It  is  said  to  have  been  built  in  the 


^ 


^ ' 


TUSCANIA. 


323 


seventh  or  eighth  century  of  the  christian  era,  and 
its  style  is  a  total  deviation  from  that  of  most  ancient 
churches  in  Rome.  It  is  a  sort  of  gothic,  formed  of 
classical  materials,  Etruscan  and  Roman  pillars  and 
arches  contributing  to  raise  a  fabric  of  which  the 
plan  and  character  widely  differ  from  anything  for 
which  they  were  originally  designed.  In  front,  the 
great  door  is  formed  of  an  immense  and  beautifully 
ornamented  arch  of  that  rounded  style  usually  with 
us  called  Saxon.  Above  there  is  a  beautiful  wheel 
window,  and  a  profusion  of  carving  of  different  ages 
and  styles.  I  was  particularly  struck  with  one  large 
carved  grouj)  which  bore  a  greater  resemblance 
to  a  Hindoo  representation  of  a  trinity,  than  any- 
thing not  Indian  I  have  ever  seen.  Did  we  not  know 
the  thing  to  be  impossible,  I  should  be  tempted  on 
the  strength  of  this  sculptured  stone  to  assert,  that 
Bramah,  Scheva,  and  Vishnu,  must  at  some  former 
period  have  found  adorers  in  Etruria.  There  is  a 
distinct  representation  of  a  trinity  of  colossal  size. 
Three  monstrous  faces  growing  together,  one  full 
face  in  the  middle,  and  a  profile  on  each  side.  The 
arms  of  the  figure  are  in  the  act  of  squeezing  and 
destroying  a  writhing  serpent.  This  very  carious 
monument  occasioned  to  us  many  interesting  specu- 
lations. It  certainly  could  not  have  belonged  to  the 
christian  period  ;  for  although  unskilled  in  ecclesi- 
astical architecture  and  ornament  as  a  system,  we  haa 
become  sufficiently  familiar  with  it,  on  the  whole,  to 
pronounce  that  this  Tuscanian  trinity  was  not  the 
work  of  Christians  in  any  age  of  the  church,  the 


I 


324 


TUSCANIA. 


rudest  representations  of  early  Christianity  being  to- 
tally dissinjilar.  Besides,  this  is  by  no  means  rude, 
it  is  monstrous.  No  less  certain  were  we,  that  it  is 
not  a  monument  of  classical  antiquity,  and  that  it 
resembles  closely  some  Asiatic  representation  of  a 
divinity.  My  own  opinion  is,  that  it  may  be  a  very 
ancient  Etruscan  carving,  to  represent  a  divinity, 
and  that  the  idea,  probably  derived  from  Syria,  and 
brought  hither  by  the  Pelasgi,  was  one  of  a  trinity 
handed  down  from  generation  to  generation,  arising 
from  the  pure  source  of  patriarchal  tradition,  and 
becoming  gradually  corrupted  in  its  progress. — 
We  know  too  little  of  the  religion  of  the  an- 
cient world  to  be  able  to  trace  this  progress;  but 
that  it  did  exist  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt,  and 
that  it  was  in  some  way  handed  down  in  ancient 
Etruria,  I  think  this  remarkable  stone  may  be 
adduced  as  affording  some  degree  of  evidence.  The 
singularity  of  the  monument  is  increased  by  the 
action  of  this  triune  Being  destroying  a  serpent. 
May  not  this  be  a  confused  allusion  to  the  most 
ancient  of  all  prophecies  which  was  uttered  at  the 
very  gate  of  paradise,  that  "  The  seed  of  the  woman 
shall  bruise  the  serpent's  head  ?" 

After  the  singular  and  beautiful  exterior,  the  in- 
side of  the  church  of  St.  Pietro  rather  disappointed 
us.  It  is  very  plain,  for  the  paintings  with  which 
it  was  once  entirely  covered  are  now  nearly  effaced  ; 
there  are  two  rows  of  pillars,  some  of  white  and 
gray  marble,  some  of  cipolini,  and  some  of  granite, 
with    singularly    ornamented    capitals    in    leaves, 


N 


TUSCANIA. 


325 


horses'  heads,  and  all  sorts  of  strange  devices. 
There  is  a  marble  pulpit,  as  in  most  primitive 
churches,  and  a  large  flat  table  on  a  pillar  for 
reading  the  gospels  ;  and  the  baptismal  font  is  sup- 
ported by  an  ancient  heathen  altar.  There  is  a 
good  painting  remaining  of  a  Madonna  and  child 
near  the  high  altar,  and  the  miracles  of  St.  Peter 
are  painted  on  the  walls  and  in  the  tribune.  A 
flight  of  steps  leads  to  the  high  altar,  which  is  sur- 
mounted by  a  canopy,  and  behind  is  placed  the 
bishop's  chair,  in  the  upper  end  and  middle  of  the 
presbyterium,  as  is  usual  in  all  the  old  christian 
churches.  It  is  altogether  a  very  interesting  spe- 
cimen of  the  most  ancient  style  of  church  architec- 
ture, and  peculiarly  so  as  being  probably  the  earliest 
gotliic  cathedral  in  the  world  ;  though,  as  a  model 
of  a  sacred  building  of  primitive  times,  it  must  yield 
in  interest  to  some  of  those  in  Rome,  and  especially 
to  the  ancient  San  Clemente,  which  is  considered 
to  be  the  most  perfectly  preserved  Basilica  of  the 
early  christian  period,  being  as  old  as  the  fifth 
century.  No  specimen  of  this  primitive  Basilican 
architecture  has  ever  yet  existed  in  England. 

We  descended  by  a  few  steps,  from  the  church 
of  St.  Pietro,  into  a  fine  crypt,  which  had  once 
been  Roman  baths.  It  was  supported  by  several 
rows  of  marble  pillars  of  all  colours,  sizes,  shapes, 
forms,  and  orders,  Roman  and  Etruscan,  mingled 
together  in  sublime  confusion.  These  baths  must 
have  been  ruined  in  the  seventh  or  eighth  cen- 
tury,  about  the  age   when  the  church  was  built, 


324 


TUSCANIA. 


rudest  representations  of  early  Christianity  being  to- 
tally dissimilar.  Besides,  this  is  by  no  means  rude, 
it  is  monstrous.  No  less  certain  were  we,  that  it  is 
not  a  monument  of  classical  antiquity,  and  that  it 
resembles  closely  some  Asiatic  representation  of  a 
divinity.  My  own  opinion  is,  that  it  may  be  a  very 
ancient  Etruscan  carving,  to  represent  a  divinity, 
and  that  the  idea,  probably  derived  from  Syria,  and 
brought  hither  by  the  Pelasgi,  was  one  of  a  trinity 
handed  down  from  generation  to  generation,  arising 
from  the  pure  source  of  patriarchal  tradition,  and 
becoming  gradually  corrupted  in  its  progress. — 
We  know  too  little  of  the  religion  of  the  an- 
cient world  to  be  able  to  trace  this  progress ;  but 
that  it  did  exist  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt,  and 
that  it  was  in  some  way  handed  down  in  ancient 
Etruria,  I  think  this  remarkable  stone  may  be 
adduced  as  affording  some  degree  of  evidence.  The 
singularity  of  the  monument  is  increased  by  the 
action  of  this  triune  Being  destroying  a  serpent. 
May  not  this  be  a  confused  allusion  to  the  most 
ancient  of  all  prophecies  which  w^as  uttered  at  the 
very  gate  of  paradise,  that  "  The  seed  of  the  woman 
shall  bruise  the  serpent's  head  ?" 

After  the  singular  and  beautiful  exterior,  the  in- 
side of  the  church  of  St.  Pietro  rather  disappointed 
us.  It  is  very  plain,  for  the  paintings  with  which 
it  was  once  entirely  covered  are  now  nearly  effaced  ; 
there  are  two  rows  of  pillars,  some  of  white  and 
gray  marble,  some  of  cipolini,  and  some  of  granite, 
with    singularly    ornamented    capitals    in    leaves, 


TUSCANIA. 


325 


s 


(V 


horses'  heads,  and  all  sorts  of  strange  devices. 
There  is  a  marble  pulpit,  as  in  most  primitive 
churches,  and  a  large  flat  table  on  a  pillar  for 
reading  the  gospels  ;  and  the  baptismal  font  is  sup- 
ported by  an  ancient  heathen  altar.  There  is  a 
good  painting  remaining  of  a  Madonna  and  child 
near  the  high  altar,  and  the  miracles  of  St.  Peter 
are  painted  on  the  w^alls  and  in  the  tribune.  A 
flight  of  steps  leads  to  the  high  altar,  which  is  sur- 
mounted by  a  canopy,  and  behind  is  placed  the 
bishop's  chair,  in  the  upper  end  and  middle  of  the 
presbyterium,  as  is  usual  in  all  the  old  christian 
churches.  It  is  altogether  a  very  interesting  spe- 
cimen of  the  most  ancient  style  of  church  architec- 
ture, and  peculiarly  so  as  being  probably  the  earliest 
gothic  cathedral  in  the  world  ;  though,  as  a  model 
of  a  sacred  building  of  primitive  times,  it  must  yield 
in  interest  to  some  of  those  in  Rome,  and  especially 
to  the  ancient  San  Clemente,  which  is  considered 
to  be  the  most  perfectly  preserved  Basilica  of  the 
early  christian  period,  being  as  old  as  the  fifth 
century.  No  specimen  of  this  primitive  Basilican 
architecture  has  ever  yet  existed  in  England. 

We  descended  by  a  few  steps,  from  the  church 
of  St.  Pietro,  into  a  fine  crypt,  which  had  once 
been  Roman  baths.  It  was  supported  by  several 
rows  of  marble  pillars  of  all  colours,  sizes,  shapes, 
forms,  and  orders,  Roman  and  Etruscan,  mingled 
together  in  sublime  confusion.  These  baths  must 
have  been  ruined  in  the  seventh  or  eighth  cen- 
tury,  about  the  age    when   the   church  was  built. 


y  ' 


326 


TUSCANIA. 


and  the  architect  must  have  taken  whatever  ma- 
terials he  could  find  on  the  spot,  which  could  be 
made  serviceable  to  his  new  erection,  without  re- 
gard to  anything  but  economy  and  use  ;  and  thus  a 
heterogeneous  forest  of  pillars  was  planted  on  the 
foundations  of  the  baths  to  serve  as  a  substruction 
to  the  christian  church,  whilst  these  baths  them- 
selves had  been  in  great  part  constructed  from 
the  ruins  of  an  Etruscan  tem])le,  of  which  the  walls 
and  substructions  exist  below.  We  saw  an  Etruscan 
temple,  a  Roman  bath,  and  a  christian  cathedral, 
one  above  the  other.  This  church,  though  cold  and 
damp,  has  mass  said  in  it  every  Sunday,  and  is  held 
in  great  es  eem  throughout  the  country  for  its  high 

antiquity. 

Not  far  from  San  Pietro  was  the  ancient 
bishop  s  palace,  of  which  little  remains  except  a 
line  of  wall  with  some  traces  of  gothic  architec- 
ture in  the  windows,  now  incorporated  in  a  large 
farm-house.  Still  nearer  to  the  church  stood  two 
double  towers,  very  high,  formed  of  massive  archi- 
tecture, and  apparently  as  useless  as  the  same  in- 
explicable constructions  in  some  parts  of  Ireland 
and  Scotland.  They  had,  however,  served  for  de- 
fence  in  the  middle  ages,  though  I  believe  tkit  they 
are  of  Etruscan  origin.  What  I  mean  by  double 
towers  is,  that  each  consisted  of  two  towers,  the  one 
cased  within  the  walls  of  the  other;  each  one  of 
these  towers  was  built  upon  Etruscan  graves,  and  it 
is  highly  probable  that  in  very  ancient  times  they 
may   have   formed   the   centre   of  some    immense 


TUSCANIA. 


327 


s 


sepulchral  mound,  similar  to  the  cucumella  at  Vulci, 
but  which  had  been  cleared  away  when  the  cathe- 
dral and  other  buildings  were  erected  in  the  early 
christian  period.  Campanari  informed  us  that  he 
intended  ere  long  to  make  excavations  beneath  the 
hill  on  which  San  Pietro's  church  stands,  where  he 
expected  to  find  very  valuable  things. 

We  descended  from  the  church  by  the  side  to- 
w^ards  the  town  opposite  to  that  by  which  we  had 
mounted.      But  before   we  entered  the  gates   we 
turned  off  to  the  right  hand  up  a  remarkable  valley 
throujrh   which  the  road  to  Viterbo  winds,  where 
there  are  on  all  sides  traces  of  ancient  sepulture. 
The  rocks  which  gird  this  valley  are  hollowed  out 
into  a  great  number  of  grottos  nearly   uniform  in 
shape,  though  differing  in  size ;    and  there  can  be 
little    doubt   that   this   is   the  site  of  a   great   ne- 
cropolis.    It  would  thus  appear  that  Tuscania  was 
almost  surrounded  by  cemeteries,  as  this  valley  is 
situated  at  a  great  distance  from  the  graves  which 
we    have    already    mentioned    near    Grotta    della 
Regina.      Most  of  these  sepulchres  are  low,  and 
formed  of  only  one  chamber ;  others  are  composed  of 
two  or  three  chambers,  but  without  internal  orna- 
ment.    In  shape  and  arrangement  they  so  greatly 
resemble   those  which  we   elsewhere   visited,    that 
they  do  not  require  a  particular  description.     The 
soft  and  porous  quality  of  the  tufo  rock  facilitated 
the  formation  of  tombs  in  all  these  places.     We  also 
visited  another  fine  and  very  ancient  church,  that  of 


328 


TUSCANIA. 


St.  Maria,  which  is,  however,  greatly  inferior  in 
interest  to  San  Pietro. 

Before  we  concluded  our  morning  s  walk,  Sig- 
nore  Campanari  conducted  us  to  the  studio  of  an 
apothecary  who  has  busied  himself  with  the  re- 
storation of  broken  and  imperfect  vases  from  all  parts 
of  the  country  in  a  way  which,  if  not  productive  of 
the  best  effect,  is  peculiarly  honest.  He  takes  the 
fragments  of  a  broken  vase,  which  he  completes, 
filling  up  all  that  is  wanting  with  white  terra  cotta 
o-lazed,  so  as  'to  rival  the  beautiful  varnish  of  the 
antique,  and  very  ingeniously  united  to  the  frag- 
ments ;  and  in  this  manner  you  have  the  vase  re- 
stored in  its  ancient  shape,  but  made  of  party- 
coloured  materials,  and  the  subject  of  the  painting 
interrupted  perhaps  in  its  most  important  parts  by 
o-lossy  white.  He  has  a  collection  of  noble  and 
costly  vases  for  sale,  but  almost  all  of  them  are 
patched  in  this  extraordinary  manner,  which  makes 
the  vase  collector's  heart  bleed  for  the  ruin  of  so 
many  fine  specimens  of  ancient  art.  This  may  truly 
be  called  a  a  museo  cimiterio.  The  way  in  which  vases 
are  restored  in  Eome,  is  infinitely  preferable.  For 
though  the  new  parts  are  joined  to  the  old,  so  as 
to  be  hardly  distinguishable,  and  the  subject  of  the 
painting  is  completely  restored;  yet  if  the  purchaser 
be  himself  a  judge,  or  if  he  have  friends  and  advisers 
who  are,  (and  no  one  under  other  circumstances  ever 
ouo-ht  to  venture  to  purchase,)  he  is  sure  of  never 
being  deceived. 


TUSCANIA. 


329 


Campanari  had  one  small  vase,  with  a  pale  ground, 
and  containing,  I  think,  a  triumphal  procession. 
We  wished  to  purchase  it,  but  he  smilingly  told  us 
that  it  was  not  for  sale  in  Italy  ;  he  wished  to  send 
it  to  London,  and  try  what  it  would  bring.  His 
brother  valued  it  at  £50.  He  had  also  an  Etruscan 
sword,  the  blade  of  which  had  been  joined  to  the 
hilt  with  gold.  It  was  short  and  somewhat  broad, 
with  a  double  edge,  and  more  like  a  very  long  dag- 
ger than  a  sword,  but  I  have  since  seen  the  figure 
of  it  on  scarabei.  This  we  wished  to  purchase  for 
a  valued  and  now  lamented  friend,  the  Bishop  of 
Lichfield,  but  it  was  not  permitted  to  leave  Italy. 
He  had,  moreover,  fragments  of  bronze  bassi  relievi 
so  magnificently  wrought  and  so  well  preserved, 
that  I  could  not  help  thinking  they  must  have  formed 
part  of  iEneas's  shield  which  Venus  had  given  him 
beneath  the  walls  of  Cere.  It  is  sadly  to  Campana- 
ri's  loss  that  he  cannot  tell  to  whom  they  belonged, 
for  they  want  only  a  name  such  as  Tarchon,  or  Vi- 
be una,  or  Porsenna,  to  bring  more  money  than  the 
famous  fragments  of  the  armour  of  Pyrrhus  in  the 
British  museum.  The  pieces  are  larger,  and  the 
workmanship  superior.  The  age,  too,  could  be  tole- 
rably well  ascertained,  and  is  more  likely  to  be 
prior  than  posterior  to  Pyrrhus,  viz.  280  b.  c. — 
These  extraordinary  bronzes  have  been  sent  to 
England,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  will  fall  into  hands 
worthy  of  them.  He  had  also  two  bronze  cistas 
very  little  inferior.  As  we  returned  to  his  house 
from  San  Pietro,  we  passed   many   large  caverns, 


\^ 


330 


TUSCANIA. 


TUSCANIA. 


331 


which  reminded  us  of  the  Matlock  caves  at  home. 
They  had  all  been  tombs,  but  destroyed  before  the 
memory  of  any  one  now  living,  and  some  of  them 
have  passages  excavated  in  the  rock,  which  go  in  at 
one  door,  and  then,  passing  behind  two  or  three 
tombs,  come  out  at  another. 

There  was  one  remaining  sepulchre  at  Toscanella 
which  we  were  anxious  to  see,  but,  alas  !    we  were 
not  in  time  before  it  was  filled   up  ;  and  a  written 
description  of  it,  which  I   was  promised  from  the 
Archaeological  Society,  was  never  sent  to  me.     Some 
time  in  the  month  of  March,  Campanari  came  to 
Rome,  bringing  with  him  some  sketches  of  bassi 
relievi,  found  upon  two  large  coffins,  and  some  terra 
cotta,  and  bronzes,  the  forms  of  which  I  do  not  re- 
member, and  two  of  the  finest  specchii  which  had 
ever  yet  been  seen.     They  were  large  and  perfect, 
of  good  metal,  and  containing  a  variety  of  figures 
with  inscriptions,  amongst  which  stood  a  new  deity, 
or  a  new  name  for  an  old  deity.     They  were  very 
beautifully  engraved  in  the  Greek  Etruscan   style, 
and  I  remember  amongst  them  Tinia,  Kupra,Turan, 
and   the   god    whom    we   call    Neptune,   with    his 
trident,  but  I  cannot  tell  his  Etruscan  name,  nor 
his  employment.     Of  these  mirrors,  one,  if  not  both 
of  them,  had  been  gilt,  or  at  least  had  that  appear- 
ance ;  but  it  was  disputed  in  the  society,  whether 
the  yellow  colour  was  gold,  or  a  chemical  change 
effected  by  some  peculiar  kind  of  earth,  in  which 
these  specchii  were  found.     I  do  not,  however,  be- 
lieve that  their  having  lain  in  the  earth  at  all  was 


an  ascertained  fact.     I  can  never  forget  my  per- 
plexity and   astonishment    the   first  time  I  saw  a 
specchio  in  the  hall  of  the  Archseological  Society. 
I  saw  a  number  of  the  members  gathered  in  con- 
sultation round  a  thing  which  I  took  for  an  ancient 
sacrificial  instrument ;  I  thought  it  was  a  frying-pan. 
It  was  small  and  shallow,  but  it  had  a  rim  remain- 
ing, and  a  handle,  and  seemed  very  fit  for  the  pur- 
pose, only  somewhat  corroded  with  rust,  and  worn 
down  by  time.     I  saw  the  wonder  it  excited,  and  I 
had  no  doubt  that  it  was  a  treasure  most  curious 
and  rare.     I  thought,  perhaps,  it  had  been  used  in 
the  funereal  feasts,  and  it  might  have   fried  either 
fish  or  eggs,  or  any  other  sort  of  thing  represented 
in  the  tombs.     It  was  presented  to  me  in  my  turn  for 
inspection,  and  I    timidly  asked  its  name.     One  of 
the   gentlemen    said,   "  A  specchio,"    and   smiled. 
"  A  specchio,"  I   repeated,  and  considered  within 
myself— a  specchio  is  the  Italian  for  a  looking-glass, 
but  perhaps  it  may  also  be   the  learned  name  for 
some  of  those  mystical  instruments  of  which  the  use 
is  not  known.     It  was  certainly  not  a  glass.     No 
one  could  see  themselves  in  that  thick  unpolished 
metal;    the  convex  side   would   make   a  distorted 
face,  and  the  concave,  the  surface  of  which  was  but 
slightly  hollowed,  had  a  figure  scratched   upon  it. 
I  looked  again  to  see  if  it  was  a  costume,  but  it  was 
a  genius  winged  and  naked,— not,  therefore,  as  it 
appeared  to  me,  a  model  for  female  fashions.     I 
asked  the  professor  what  it  was.     He  opened   his 
eyes,  and  answered,   "A  specchio!"      There  was 


V 


f 


332 


TUSCANIA. 


TUSCANIA, 


333 


evidently  no  one  there  who  could  conceive  the  ex- 
istence of  a  being  so  ignorant  as  not  to  know  the 
whole  history,  date,  and  use  of  a  specchio ;  so  I 
was  silent.  One  person  said  to  me,  "  How  would 
you  like  such  a  looking-glass  T  and  believing  his 
speech  to  be  a  joke,  I  laughed.  Another  good- 
humouredly  observed,  "  You  will  see  it  on  the 
vases."  For  a  whole  week  I  was  engaged  in  find- 
ing out  the  meaning  of  a  specchio,  and  peeped  in 
every  shop-window  in  Rome  to  see  if  I  could  find 
it  on  a  vase.  I  did  fortunately  see  it  on  many 
vases,  and  in  due  time  arrived  at  the  knowledge 
I  desired.  After  puzzling  out  my  lesson,  1  could 
not  help  thinking  what  a  pity  that  you  learned 
men,  who  give  public  lectures,  should  not  have 
amongst  you  one  poor  ignorant  being,  who,  having 
felt,  like  me,  the  difficulty  of  groping  her  way  back 
to  the  days  of  the  Hood,  and  the  origin  of  nations, 
could  have  had  compassion  upon  another  in  distress, 
and  have  said,  ''  A  specchio  means  a  looking-glass, 
and  this  is  one :  you  will  find  that  all  the  ancient 
nations  used  them  of  this  form,  and  of  brass,  or  of 
bronze,  till  about  two  centuries  before  the  christian 
era,  when  they  were  made  of  polished  steel,  which 
custom  continued  until  superseded  by  glass.  A 
very  fine  one  of  steel,  purchased  by  Capranesi,  was 
lately  dug  up  at  Avignon,  of  the  time  of  the  empire  ; 
and  glass  was  known  and  used  along  with  steel  at 
the  time  of  the  destruction  of  Pompeii,  as  you  may 
see  in  the  toilet  cabinet  of  the  Naples  museum. 
This   bronze,  thoug^h    it  looks  to  vou  so  dull  and 


dingy,  was  once  very  finely  polished,  and  specimens 
are  occasionally  found  on  which  the  polish  still  re- 
mains. Specchii  of  brass  or  bronze  (for  the  words 
mean  the  same  thing)  are  mentioned  in  the  book  of 
Job,  at  a  time  probably  184  years  prior  to  Abraham. 
We  know,  therefore,  that  they  are  of  the  very 
highest  antiquity,  and  most  probably  were  invented 
by  Tubal  Cain,  and  used  by  the  ladies  in  Noah's 
ark.  They  are  chiefly,  if  not  wholly,  now  found  in 
the  graves  of  Etruria,  and  the  number  known  is 
about  five  hundred."  Had  any  lady  taken  this 
compassion  upon  me,  I  should  have  thanked  her 
more  than  I  did  that  day  either  the  wit  or  the 
charity  of  the  learned  men.  By  the  time  Campa- 
nari  brought  these  specchii  to  Rome,  I  was  wise 
enough  to  have  stared  myself  at  a  question  about 
them,  and  to  have  answered,  that  "  a  specchio  meant 
a  specchio."  I  never  heard  what  became  of  them, 
but  they  are  among  the  very  finest  that  have  ever 
been  found,  and  must  have  belonged  to  some  emi- 
nently rich  person. 

Carapanari's  account  of  the  sepulchre  in  which 
he  found  them  was,  that  he  w^as  excavating  as  usual 
in  a  rough  but  quiet-looking  spot,  when  suddenly 
he  heard  a  great  crash,  the  earth  fell  in,  and  he 
found  himself  standing  in  the  centre  of  twelve 
figures,  all  with  their  raised  and  ornamented  heads 
staring  at  him,  and  wondering  why  he  came  to 
give  them  such  disturbance.  He  said  he  really 
felt  frightened  at  the  time,  and  inclined  to  run 
away,  for,   on    whichever    side    he   looked,   there 


334 


TUSCANIA. 


were  the  red  and  fiery  faces  and  the  peculiarly 
stern  expression  of  these  reproachful  figures.  Their 
bodies  were  all  covered  with  earth,  and  their 
heads  only  were  raised  above  the  soil,  so  that  they 
looked  like  beings  from  beneath,  come  to  sit  in 
judgment  upon  him  for  violating  their  repose.  The 
effect,  however,  was  momentary.  The  living  amongst 
the  dead  is  a  substance  amongst  shadows.  Cam- 
panari  ordered  his  men  to  fall  to  work,  and  the  soil 
was  cleared  away.  He  then  saw  that  the  tomb  was 
circular,  rather  an  uncommon  form  at  Toscanella, 
with  one  or  two  ledges  all  round  it,  and  twelve  or 
more  coffins  of  stone  and  baked  clay,  each  with  its 
portrait  figure  of  man  or  woman  on  the  lid,  in  the 
dress  of  the  ancient  nobles.  I  think  he  found  no 
gold  ornaments  in  this  tomb,  but  bronzes  and  vases, 
and  beautiful  sculpture.  The  subject  of  one  sar- 
cophagus was  the  story  of  Niobe  very  fully  repre- 
sented, with  some  Etruscan  peculiarities  ;  but  all 
those  I  had  the  opportunity  of  asking,  were  too 
learned  to  explain  to  me  in  what  these  consisted. 
Upon  another  sarcophagus  was  a  human  sacrifice. 
The  fallen  roof  had,  as  is  usual  in  such  cases,  de- 
stroyed much,  and  when  we  were  at  Tuscania,  it 
could  no  longer  be  seen,  because  it  was  impassable 
from  water.  Campanari  had  kept  it  open  as  long 
as  he  could,  by  setting  a  watch  upon  it ;  but,  be- 
sides the  trouble  and  expense  of  this  process,  he 
was  obliged  to  remove  many  things  which  would 
otherwise  have  suffered  from  the  spring  storms, 
and  he  said  the  peasants  were  incessantly  watching 


TUSCANIA. 


335 


to  pillage  this  council  of  twelve,  so  that  he  found 
it  much  more  expedient  to   remove   all  that  was 
worth  carriage,  and  then  to  cover  the  roofless  grave 
up  with  the  earth  again.     I  saw  many  of  the  coffins 
belonging  to  it  about  his  premises,  and  the  faces 
of  all  had  been  painted  with  vermilion,  the  colour 
which  in  ancient  times  was    given   to   gods    and 
heroes,  and  which  I  have  several  times  observed 
upon  the  Lucumones.     Campanari  promised  to  erect 
a  tomb  upon  the  exact  model  of  what  I  have  at- 
tempted to  describe,  in  which  he  would  place  all 
the  unsold  articles    from  the  original   as   he   had 
found  them.     I  trust  he  will  do  so,  for  the  model 
tomb  of  the  Velthuri  was  most  excellently  done, 
and    was  deeply  interesting.     Campanari  is  a  man 
of  science  and  a  patriot,  and  what  he  does  is  likely 
to  be  done  with  taste   and  judgment.     Over   the 
door  of  the  Velthuriaii  sepulchre  was   written  in 
Etruscan  letters,  ril  avil,  "  he   lived ;"    and  this  is 
a  very  common,  and  a  very  simple  and  touching 
epitaph  often  found  above  the  tombs.     There  were 
some  other  inscriptions  rather  longer,  but  few  can 
be  understood.     One  is  "  Eca  suth  inesl,"  or  Rest 
in  peace — Adieu  in  peace. 

Campanari  had  another  large  cavern-tomb  in 
his  garden  partially  fitted  up,  and  in  a  style  dis- 
tinct from  any  of  those  already  mentioned.  He 
was  very  unwilling  that  I  should  go  into  it,  because 
it  was  not  entirely  furnished  and  arranged ;  but  I 
thought  it  very  well  worth  the  trouble,  though  I 
can  give  no  description  of    it,  having  a  confused 


ii 


336 


TUSCANIA. 


TUSCANIA. 


337 


I 

I  i 


jumble  in  my  head  of  large  stone  sarcophagi  with 
inscriptions,  bronze  shields,  wheels,  jars,  strange 
instruments  for  uses  stranger  still,  bassi  relievi,  and 
I  know  not  what  besides.  There  were  quantities  of 
large  white  rabbits  running  about  in  it,  which 
frightened  me  by  jumping  out  unexpectedly  from 
w^here  I  stood.  I  asked  Campanari  how  he  could 
allow  these  animals  to  be  there,  which  gave  me  the 
idea  of  vermin,  and  he  said  that  he  thought  them 
appropriate,  for  that  they  were  animals  which 
loved  sepulchres,  and  were  constantly  found  about 
the  graves.  Above,  below,  and  around,  in  Cam- 
panari's  garden,  were  lines  of  sculptured  coffins, 
funereal  vases,  and  broken  marbles.  Many  of  the 
figures  had  the  head  and  face  very  finely  executed, 
and  the  rest  of  the  person  finished  in  the  most 
hasty  and  slovenly  manner,  and  many  had  the 
front  only  finished,  and  the  back  left  smooth  to 
be  placed  against  the  wall.  I  saw  most  strange 
positions  and  most  extraordinarily  distorted,  elon- 
gated, or  curtailed  hands  and  feet ;  but  in  all,  the 
countenance  was  finished  with  an  individuality  and 
detail  which  evinced  a  high  degree  of  art.  The 
heads  of  some  were  crowned  with  chaplets  of  flow- 
ers, others  wore  fillets  or  diadems,  and  the  forms  of 
their  various  ornaments  were  dissimilar;  some  of 
the  necklaces  were  of  round  beads,  like  what  we 
had  seen  so  often  in  collections,  and  some  of  them 
of  a  pear-shaped  ornament,  like  the  famous  neck- 
lace of  Phidias's  Minerva,  and  which  is  sometimes 

also    represented   on   the    vases         ^^'^i?^J^>J>(f^^J^ 


Most  of  the  stone  sarcophagi  had  inscriptions. 
Alas  !  who  shall  read  them  now  ?  They  are  indeed 
a  dead  language,  and  yet  not  without  their  instruc- 
tion to  the  living ;  and  though  they  can  administer 
no  consolation  to  the  departed  spirit,  and  no  flattery 
to  "  the  dull  cold  ear  of  death,"  I  do  not  think  the 
testimony  they  bear  to  former  knowledge  and  re- 
finement is  a  thing  of  small  consequence.  I  hope 
Campanari  will  take  drawings  of  his  tombs,  now 
that  he  has  so  much  experience,  and  that  he  can 
give  to  the  world  so  much  information  otherwise 
unattainable.  He  expects  a  very  rich  harvest  of 
strange  discoveries,  of  the  highest  antiquity,  in 
the  scavi  at  present  making  about  San  Pietro,  and 
he  has  this  great  advantage  over  enterprisers  at 
Tarquinia,  that  not  one  in  ten  of  these  tombs  has 
been  opened  before.  Amongst  other  strange  things 
which  he  had  found  at  various  times  was  a  circular 
stone  inscribed,  a  winged  genius,  also  in  stone,  and 
three  very  prettily  proportioned  small  pillars.  I 
think  they  were  marble,  as  were  some  fine  capitals 
lying  on  the  ground,  and  which  must  have  been 
found  amongst  ruins  of  baths,  in  this  vicinity. 

I  have  nothing  more  to  add  than  what  I  ought, 
perhaps,  to  have  stated  at  the  beginning,  and  that  is 
the  description  of  our  guardiano,  a  tender  of  cattle, 
whom  Carlo  Avolta  sent  with  us  to  show  us  the 
road,  which  it  is  by  no  means  easy  to  find  after  the 
first  three  miles  from  Corneto.  This  man  was  one 
of  a  regular  profession  in  Italy,  to  keep  the  cattle 
equally  from  the  attacks  of  man  and  beast ;  some- 


I 


338 


TUSCANIA. 


TUSCANIA. 


339 


times  to  assist  in   hunting  the  boar,  and  some- 
times in  running  down  the  buffalo.     I  have  seen 
them  galloping  along  the  high  road  at  full  speed 
with  the  spear  extended  after  the  buffalo,  and  pre- 
senting a  picture  worthy  of  our  oriental  draughts- 
men  ;  and  when,  as  not  unfrequently  happens,  the 
wild  or  enraged  cattle  attack  peasants  crossing  the 
fields,  these  men  are  expected  to  run  or  ride  up  at 
a  moment's  notice  to  the  rescue.  Our  guardiano  was 
a  most  romantic  looking  figure— a  fresh,  stout,  and 
rather  large  man  about  forty,  remarkably  well  and 
substantially  dressed  in  a  jacket  and  cloak,  or  toga, 
of  blue  cloth,  boots   upon   his  legs,  a  gun  slung 
behind  his  shoulder,  and  a  very  long  pole  shod  with 
iron  in  his  hand.      He  was  mounted   on  a  stout 
black  horse,  which  probably  belonged  to  himself, 
and  his  saddle  was  high  peaked  before  and  behmd, 
with  the  seat  sunk  down  in  the  middle. 

I  have  mentioned  the  picturesque  appearance  of 
all  the  Etruscan  towns  as  we  left  them  or  entered 
them.   We  had  no  sooner  lost  sight  of  Corneto  than 
we  saw  Toscanella  rising  far  in  the  distance  before 
us  ;  and  after  proceeding  more  than  a  mile,  we  had 
Monte  Fiascone  perched  upon  a  high  rock  on  the 
left  hand,  and  Viterbo,  less  remarkable  for  situation, 
but  much  larger  in  appearance,  on  our  right.     As 
we  returned,  we  found  a  spot,  just  as  we  branched 
off  from  a  moorland  track  to  a  species  of  road  where 
all  four  towns  could  be  seen  together ;  and  ^  was  a 
pleasure  to  us  to  look  over  so  much  of  old  Etruna, 
and  a  wonder  to  think  how  populous  it  must  once 


have  been,  for  there  were  many  towns  between  Tar  • 
quinia  and  Viterbo,  of  which  no  trace  now  remains. 
For  aught  we  knew,  a  city  once  stood  upon  the  deso- 
late moor  we  were  traversing.  Near  Corneto  are 
numerous  small  hills,  whether  natural  or  artificial 
we  could  not  tell,  and  extensive  copse-woods,  which 
are  full  of  the  wild  boar. 


Q  2 


340 


CHAPTER  VII. 


C2ERE   OR    AGYLLA. 


I  THINK  I  have  seldom  felt  better  pleased  than  when 
our  carriage  turned  off  from  the  high  road  about  six 
miles  beyond  Monterone,  and  we  found  ourselves 
on  the  way  to  Cervetri.  Though  we  met  with  no  acci- 
dent, I  certainly  do  not  recommend  this  road  to  such 
vehicles  as  usually  go   by  the  name  of  carriages  in 
England,  by  reason  of  a  very  steep  and  stony  ascent 
close  to  the  town,  and  of  sundry  ditches  before  arriv- 
ing at  this  ascent.     One  of  our  party,  pointing  to 
the  height,  which  by  this  time  the  reader  will  per- 
ceive to  be  the  site  of  every  Etruscan  town,  said  to 
me,  "  Do  you  not  see  the  necropolis  ?"    I  answered 
"  Yes ;"  but  in  truth  I  did  not  know  which   it  was, 
for  I  looked  for  something  remarkable  in  appear- 
ance, while  it  was  only  visible  as  one  of  the  many  un- 
even eminences  towards  which  we  were  driving.     I 
do  not  believe  that  the  great  cemetery  of  this  place 
can  be  seen  from  the  side  on  which  we  approached, 
as  it  stands  beyond  and  behind  the  town ;  but  ano- 


CJERE   OR   AGYLLA. 


341 


ther  burying-place,   which  consisted  of  the  tombs  of 
distinguished  persons  only,  was  on  the  same  side 
with  ourselves,  and  seemed  to  me  like  a  height  on 
which  cones  had  been  broken  down.     Cervetri  has 
had  three  distinct  existences,  and  has  borne  three 
separate  names,  which  I  beg  the  reader  to  keep  in 
mind,  when  I  give  it  any  other  appellation  than  the 
one  it  now  bears.     We  find  here  earlier  traces  of 
civilization  than  in  any  other  spot  in  Italy,  and  it 
was    first    called    Agylla    under    the     naturalized 
Pelasgians,  then  Caere  under  the  conquering  Etrus- 
cans, and  lastly  Cervetri,  after  Caere  had  gradually 
decayed  under  the  Romans,  who  placed  a  colony  of 
their   own  about  two  miles  from  the  site,  which  they 
also  called  by  the  name  of  Caere   or  Cere,  a  name 
remaining  at  this  hour  to  puzzle  travellers.     Agylla- 
Caere   then   became  Caere  or  Cere-Vetere,  and  is 
so  termed  by  the  writers  of  the  middle  ages,  and  in 
many  papal  bulls ;  and  now  it  has  become  Cervetri ; 
whilst  the  little  settlement,  many  centuries   more 
recent,  has  appropriated  to  itself  the  name  of  Cere 
or  Cere -novo. 

As  we  approached  Cervetri,  we  saw  a  quan- 
tity of  hewn  stones  lying  about  and  gathered  to- 
gether to  build  a  wall,  in  which  part  of  them  had 
already  been  employed.  To  the  eye  they  appeared 
about  two  feet  long,  one  foot  broad,  and  one  foot 
thick,  and  they  looked  as  if  they  had  been  dug  up 
after  a  long  interment.  I  remarked,  "  One  would 
almost  think  that  these  dingy  stones  had  once 
built   the   walls  of  the    ancient  city,"  and  to    my 


I  < 


342 


CiERE  OR  AGYLLA. 


CiERE  OR  AGYLLA. 


343 


no  small  surprise  I  was  told  that  I  was  perfectly 
right,  and  that  they  had  formed  the  old  wall.  They 
are  found  in  great  quantities  hereabouts  buried 
beneath  the  soil,  and  are  used  for  building  whatever 
may  be  wanted  for  modern  purposes ;  the  Italians 
wisely  arguing  that  they  were  hewn  to  build  with, 
and  that  to  use  them  saves  the  trouble   of  hewing 

over  again. 

We  entered  the  present  village  by  an  arched  gate 
flanked  by  a  wall  on  one  side,  and  by  a  Roman 
tower  on  the  other.  It  is  a  poor  place,  containing 
two  or  three  houses  of  wealthy  farmers,  or  non-noble 
proprietors,— that  is,  a  sort  of  yeomanry.  It  has  a 
palace  belonging  to  Prince  Ruspoli,  the  lord  of  the 
manor,  and,  to  our  great  profit  and  consolation,  it 
has  also  a  parsonage  in  the  house  of  the  Arci  Prete 
Reo-ulini.  I  say  to  our  profit  and  consolation,  be- 
cause the  only  inn  is  a  wretched  pot-house  of  the 
very  lowest  description,  frequented  by  carriers  and 
muleteers,  where  we  sent  our  horses ;  and  it  is  so 
bad  that  our  Italian  servant  would  not  enter  it,  nor 
even  taste  of  the  food  which  was  there  prepared. 

Our  archaeological  friends  in  Rome  had  given  us 
a  letter  to  the  Arci  Prete,  and  we  accordingly  went 
to  his  house,  and  asked  his  leave  to  eat  our  luncheon 
in  a  room  there.  We  were  received,  a  few  yards 
from  the  door,  by  a  majestic  looking  dark  man, 
somewhat  elderly,  with  a  grave  and  benevolent 
countenance.  He  told  us  that  he  was  the  Arci 
Prete,  and  insisted  on  our  dining  with  him,  after  he 
should  have  exercised  his  kindness  in  guiding  us  to 


the  ancient  monuments  which  we  were  come  to  see. 
Of  course  we   desired  first  to  visit  the  tomb  he  had 
himself  discovered,  and  for  this  purpose  we  followed 
him,  and  again  partly  retraced  the  street  and  road  by 
which  we  had  entered  the  town.     We  passed  many 
an  ancient  sepulchral  cavern  now  open  to  the  day, 
and   walked   nearly  a  mile  along  a  pleasant  and 
well-made   country   road   leading   to  Cere-novo.— 
We  then  crossed  a  style  on  the  right   hand,  into 
a  field  of  Indian  corn,   and    were   told   that   this 
field  had  once  been  a  tumulus  like  those  at  Mon- 
terone,    but    that  the  top  was  now  beaten   down, 
whilst    the    bottom  was  raised   up.     It   had  been 
broken  to  pieces,  in  order  to  search  in  all  directions 
for  graves,  and  its   pristine  form  was  gone.     I  do 
not  know  its  real  name,  and  therefore  I  shall  call 
it  Monte  Regulini.     By  its  side  stood  several  other 
hillocks,  which  had  once  been  regular  tumuli,  but 
which  are  now  all  more  or  less  destroyed.     Never 
without  previous  knowledge  could  I  have  imagined 
that  we  were  walking  upon  the  section  of  a  cone. 
As  we  descended,  we  came  upon  a  wall,  probably 
about  three  feet  high,   and  similar  to  what  we  had 
seen    at    Monterone,    only   more    finished.     This, 
Regulini   told   us,  had  gone   all  round  the    cone, 
having  doors  and  graves  in   it  at  certain  distances, 
the   g^'raves   going   round  about  h^lf   the    circum- 
ference,  and  consisting   of  th Fee  "'chambers   each, 
with  short   narrow  passages  between  them.     The 
form   of  the   doors    was   not   so   Egyptian    as    at 
Monterone,  and  yet  something  in  that  style.    The 


344 


CiERE    OR    AGYLLA. 


face  of  the  mount  is  said  to  have  presented  the  same 
appearance,  the  plain  part  having  been  the  earth 
we  had  walked  over,  and  the  wall  having  been 
covered  from  view  by  the  accumulations  of  time. 
It  had  been  as  smooth  as  Monterone,  before  the 
Arci  Prete  and  General  Galassi,  feeling  sure  that 
it  was  a  place  of  sepulture,  agreed  to  undertake 
together  the  excavation  of  it  in  1836.  There  were 
lions  and  griffins  on  the  cornice  of  stone  above  the 
doors  of  the  graves,  and  there  was  a  large  lion 
on  the  top  of  the  mount.  I  do  not  remember 
whether  these  lower  tombs  had  been  opened  before, 
or  whether  they  were  found  sealed  ;  probably  the 
former,  as  nothing  of  importance  was  brought  out  of 
them  ;  and  yet  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  were 
the  graves  of  distinguished  persons  only. 

Having  found  these  sepulchres  at  the  base  of  the 
mound,  the  Arci  Prete  and  the  general  agreed,  from 
what  they  knew  of  the  Etruscan  method  of  burying, 
that  the  tomb  of  the  chief  person  in  whose  honour 
the  entire  mound  had  been  erected,  must  occupy  a 
more  elevated  place  by  itself,  and  was  therefore  to  be 
sought  for  a  considerable  way  higher  up  towards  the 
centre,  and  far  above  the  tombs  already  found.  It  was 
my  impression,  from  the  many  holes  which  we  looked 
down  into  between  the  lower  wall  and  the  principal 
tomb,  that  there  had  been  a  second  row  of  vaulted 
burying  places  in  this  hill  ;  but  we  were  not  told  so, 
neither  have  I  heard,  in  any  lecture,  of  such  a  form 
of  burial.  The  wall  had  a  coping-stone,  very  neatly 
worked,  and  the  stones  of  the  basement  row  were 


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JP  ^?J.i. 


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Tcn/h.s. 


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Iffffyf/'f  ff  /■//''   T'  /t/A 


C^RE   OR    AGYLLA. 


345 


higher  and  broader  than  those  of  the  other  rows. 
General  Galassi  did  not  know  how  to  reach  the  cen- 
tral tomb.    The  Arci  Prete  had  ideas  of  his  own  upon 
the  subject,  gained  by  experience,  and  by  following 
out  which,  he  came  upon  one  of  the  most  extraor- 
dinary discoveries  of  modern  times.     He  excavated 
from  the  top  until  he  arrived  at  a  slope,  which  by 
steps  had  led  down  to  a  massive  stone  door  towards 
the  centre  of  the  hillock ;  this  he  broke,  and  behold 
he  had  gained  the  wished-for  prize!    I  think  there 
were  no  steps  remaining  by  which  w;e  could  descend, 
for  we  scrambled    down  as  we   might  have  done 
into  some  old   Derbyshire  mine,  and  entered  by  a 
sort  of  rude  arch  into  a  vaulted  portico.     I  call  it  a 
sort  of  arch,  because  it  would  seem  to  have  been 
constructed  before  the  regular  arch  was  known,  or 
its  principle  conceived.  It  had  the  appearance,  both 
within  and  without,   which  is   represented    in   the 
plates,  and  it  gave  me  the  idea  that  its  builders 
would  have  made  a  pointed  arch,   if  they    could. 
This  is  a  sketch  of  the  external  architecture  of  the 
Regulini-Galassi   tomb,   which    during  the   winter 
1837-8  was  commonly  called,  among  the  English  in 
Rome,  "  General  Galassi's  Grave." 

The  portico,  of  a  few  feet  long,  led  into  a  square 
chamber,  perhaps  ten  feet  square  or  thereabouts;  but 
I  was  so  surprised  and  interested  that  1  did  not  then 
think  of  the  dimensions,  besides  that  we  had  very 
scanty  light  by  which  to  measure  anything.  I  have 
already  described  the  principal  articles  found  in  this 
tomb,  which  we  saw  in  Home  at  General  Galassi's 

Q  5 


346 


C^RE   OR    AGYLLA. 


house,  and  which  are  now  in  the  Gregorian  Museum ; 
but  it  was  unspeakably  interesting  to  look  u  pon  the  spot 
where  they  had  lain,  though  the  only  vestige  of  an  or- 
namented sepulchre  that  now  remains  is  some  bronze 
nails  firmly  fixed  in  the  walls,  from  which  the  shields 
and  tazze  had  formerly  hung.  Along  the  sides,  and  on 
a  sort  of  shelf  or  ledge,  beneath  the  immense  stones 
which  formed  the  roof,  were  found  the  ornamented 
shields  of  bronze,  but  of  such  thin  metal  that  they 
had  evidently  been  made  for  ornament  only,  and  not 
for  battle.  Mingled  with  them  were  arrows,  a  bun- 
dle of  which  lay  close  to  the  bier.  This  bier  had 
four  short  feet,  and  was  formed 
of  cross-barred  bronze  thus  ;  it 
stood  close  to  a  walled-up  door, 
the  top  of  which  was  open,  and 
upon  this  were  placed  two  vases 
of  silver  and  two  vases  for  liba- 
tions. At  the  head  and  foot  of 
the  bier  were  small  altars  for 
sacrifice,  and  by  the  side  of  it 
were  ranged  a  number  of  terra 
cotta  images,  most  probably  re- 
presenting Lares.  I  do  not  re- 
collect the  precise  form  of 
these,  but  in  the  graves  at  Caere 
are  occasionally  found  very  beautiful  clay  images, 
shaped  like  mummies,  which,  until  I  knew  better,  I 
had  believed  to  be  an  importation  from  Egypt. 
Some  bones  of  the  corpse  lay  upon  the  bier  somewhat 
more  than  three  thousand  years  old,  and   perhaps, 


\i 


'1)1 


1} 


IX" 


C-ERE   OR   AGYLLA. 


347 


had  the  tomb  been  opened  with  sufficient  care,  the 
corpse  of  the  warrior  himself  might  have  been  seen 
with  all  his  grave-clothes  on,  as  has  been  the  case  in 
some  of  the  ancient  Agyllan  tumuli,  as  well  as  in  se- 
veral, probably,  less  ancient  examples  at  Tarquinia. 
Here  he  was  brought  into  his  last  mortal  dwelling- 
place,  and  left  to  his  long  and  solemn  sleep,  reposing 
upon  a  couch  which  seemed  to  defy  the  hand  of  time, 
and  having  around  him  his  arms  and  his  altars,  his 
perfumes,  and  his  domestic  sacred  images,  or  deified 
progenitors.  At  his  side  also,  as  I  was  told,  lay  the 
wondrous  inkstand,  having  upon  it  an  alphabet  of 
thirteen  consonants  and  four  vowels,  repeated 
in  syllables  ;  and  opposite  the  bier  stood  the  small 
household  carriage  in  which  the  corpse  had  been 
conveyed  to  the  grave,  and  of  which  the  sides  were 
ornamented  with  lions  in  bronze,  in  the  style  of 
early  Greek  workmanship.  One  vase  for  perfumes, 
also  made  of  bronze,  stood  towards  the  entrance, 
consisting  of  three  globes,  one  above  the  other ; 
near  to  which  there  was  something  like  a  candela- 
bra, and  beyond  it,  just  at  the  door,  was  a  tripod 
surmounted  by  a  vessel  in  which  incense  had  been 
burned,  probably  during  the  funeral  rites,  to  pre- 
vent infection. 

After  this  grave  had  been  despoiled,  the  door 
leading  into  the  other  beyond  it  was  broken  down, 
and  here  was  found  a  sight,  if  possible,  still  more 
wonderful,  and  yet  I  am  led  to  believe  by  no  means 
new  to  the  people  of  Cervetri,  though  hitherto  unre- 
corded.    Here  were  vases  of  bronze  still  hanging  on 


L 


348 


CvERE   OR    AGYLLA. 


the  wall  by  nails,  a  tripod  containing  a  vase  for  per- 
fumes, a  large  vase  ornamented  with  massive  heads, 
some  bronze  vases  of  different  forms  hanging  from 
the  roof,  and  in  a  sort  of  recess  at  the  end  were  two 
large  stones  about  five   feet  from   each   other,  on 
which  had  been  placed  the  head  and  feet  of  the 
body  buried  here.     No  mortal  form  remained,  yet 
so  distinctly  apparent  was  the  purpose  of  the  stones, 
that  I  could  almost  fancy  I   had  seen  one.     Upon 
the  stone  next  the  end  wall  lay  the  extraordinary 
gold  ornament  I  have  described  as  shown  at  General 
Galassi's,  consisting  of    two    discs,   with   animals 
carved  upon  them,  and  two  gold  fillets;  and  sunk 
down  below  the  stone,  or  half  leaning  upon  it,  was 
the  superb  golden  breastplate  which  I  have  also 
already  mentioned.     On  each  side,  where  the  wrists 
had  once  depended,  lay  broad  golden  bracelets,  rich- 
ly worked  in  relievo ;  close  to  the  breastplate  lay  a 
clasp  composed  of  three  spheres  of   gold,  and  at 
various  distances  between  the  stones  were  the  little 
lumps  of  the  same  precious  metal  which  had  been 
woven  into  the  grand  ceremonial  dress  of  departed 
royalty.     Now  comes  the  wonder, — this  had  been  a 
woman !     Whether  a  warrior  queen  or  a  priestess, 
none  can  tell,  but  my  belief  is  the  former.     Greatly 
honoured  and  sovereign  in  power  she  had  certainly 
been,    and    her   name   was   "  Larthia,"   which,   as 
"  lars"  means  "  sovereign,  or  greatly  exalted  man," 
probably  means  "  sovereign  or  greatly  exalted  vvo- 
man."     Attached  to  the  wall  behind  her  head  had 
been  two  silver  vessels,  which  had    fallen  down  ; 


N 


\ 


i'' 


CiERE    OR    AGYLIA. 


349 


1 


they  were  both  covered  with  Egyptian  figures — the 
one  was  a  small  silver  bucket,  and  the  other  a  cup 
without  handles.  A  quantity  of  vases  were  in  the 
tomb,  some  of  them  bearing  the  names  of  Larthia, 
and    others    of   "Mi    Larthia,"     AI©^A>1     ^^^ 

4I©SA\II'^ — which  antiquarians  have  decided 
to  mean  the  person  to  whom  they  belonged,  and 
not  the  person  who  made  them.  Between  the 
graves  of  these  two  bodies,  and  just  before  entering 
the  closed-up  door,  were  two  side  chambers  of  an 
oval  form,  supposed  to  be  of  posterior  construction 
to  that  of  the  Larthia;  they  were  round,  and  not 
oblong  like  the  two  just  described,  and  contained 
neither  bodies  nor  sarcophagi,  but  funeral  urns 
filled  with  ashes.  In  the  one  were  two  rows  of 
small  terra  cotta  figures  between  the  urns,  and  in 
the  other  a  number  of  figured  vases  and  bronze 
vessels,  but  no  lares.  Upon  the  lid  of  one  of 
the  urns  was  the  image  of  a  horse,  exactly  like  what 
is  often  placed  upon  an  English  racing-cup ;  per- 
haps the  ashes  in  it  were  those  of  the  battle-steed, 
and  those  in  the  other  vases  might  be  either  the 
ashes  of  the  prisoners  or  of  the  slaves  of  the  warrior 
who  reposed  hard  by,  and  who  must  have  been  some 
near  and  heroic  descendant  of  the  great  Larthia  in- 
terred in  the  walled-up  tomb  beyond  him,  otherwise 
he  would  not  have  been  buried  in  her  family  vault.  It 
is  the  opinion  of  the  learned  architect  Canina,  that 
this  tomb  was  constructed  many  years  previous  to 
the  Trojan  war ;  and  Troy  fell  one  thousand  one 
hundred  and  eighty-seven  years  before  the  christian 


350 


C-ERE    OR    AGYLLA. 


era.  We  therefore  read  the  language,  and  scanned 
the  dress  and  furniture,  and  saw  the  very  dust,  of 
men  who  were  contemporary  with  Jephtha  and  the 
older  judges  of  Israel,  long  before  the  times  of  Saul 

and  of  David. 

Immediately  on  entering  the  tomb,  one  is  struck 
with  its  architecture.  It  is  formed  of  lines  of 
smooth  hewn  stone,  not  very  large,  and  perfectly 
parallel.  They  form  a  straight  wall  to  the  height  of 
between  three  and  four  feet,  and  then  gradually 
converge  towards  the  top,  where  they  are  sealed  into 
a  vault  by  stones  of  prodigious  size  and  weight.  As 
the  tomb  at  Monterone  would  have  been  an  arch 
but  for  the  beam  which  intersected  it  in  the  middle, 

so  this  would  have  been  an  arch  but 

T^^— A;r^      for  the  want  of  key-stones,  the  place 

^  ^     of  which  is  supplied  by  a  roof-stone, 

and  also  that  the   converging  stones  project  over 

_-,     each   other.      In   the  one  case 
— n    I  think  the   formation   of  the 


rzr 


1 


r~T 


I 


beam  was  intentional,   and  in 
T— ^the  other    that   the   key-stone 
-*]       I  I     »  was  not  yet  discovered.     The 

bottom  of  the  tomb  was  of  that  pretty  and  durable 
work  which  we  used  to  call  "  Roman  pavement,'' 
i.  e.,  pebbles  and  ground  marble  mixed  with  lime, 
forming  a  sort  of  plum-pudding  stone  or  breccia. 
There  were  no  paintings  in  this  tomb,  and  indeed 
there  are  very  few  that  we  could  hear  of  at  Caere ; 
such  as  were  known  to  our  guide  being  merely 
coloured  lines  and  arabesque  ornaments;  and  yet 


V 


CiERE    OR    AGYLLA. 


351 


Agylla  was  one  of  those  towns  famous  for  its  paint- 
ings before  the  foundation  of  Rome,  and  probably 
at  the  very  period  when  this  tomb  was  built.  The 
inner  grave  contained  no  arms,  and  the  outer  one 
no  ornaments.  They  were  built  at  a  time  when  the 
lordly  dead  were  interred  and  not  burnt,  and  when 
they  were  laid  out  gorgeously  apparelled  in  their 
last  resting-place,  but  were  not  coffined.  Now  the 
Greeks  interred  their  dead  in  the  days  of  Cecrops, 
but  the  custom  had  fallen  quite  into  disuse,  and 
they  burnt  the  bodies  at  the  time  of  the  Trojan 
war.  In  this  tomb  the  slaves  and  animals  which 
belonged  to  the  warrior  had  been  burnt ;  but  for 
the  Larthia  no  such  sacrifices  were  made,  and  "  she 
lay  alone  in  her  glory."  Of  the  many  sepulchres 
we  have  visited,  this  is  the  only  one  in  which  the 
door  of  the  inner  chamber  has  been  found  closed. 
It  appears  to  me  to  mark  some  peculiar  dignity 
or  sacredness  in  the  female  dead,  but  I  do  not  think 
she  was  a  priestess,  because  no  emblems  peculiar 
to  the  priestly  office  were  found  beside  her,  unless 
the  ornament  upon  her  head,  already  described  in 
the  introduction,  be  thought  indicative  of  consecra- 
tion. It  was  certainly  neither  crown  nor  diadem, 
and  was  quite  peculiar,  nothing  in  any  material 
having  been  found  like  it,  except  the  one  from  the 
Ponte  Sodo,  which  was  excavated  by  Lucien  Bona- 
parte. When  I  first  saw  this  strange  ornament  in 
Rome,  it  startled  me,  and  gave  me  the  idea  of 
Aaron,  the  priest  of  Him  who  rules  the  earth    and 


N 


352 


C^RE   OR    AGYLLA. 


air,  and  who  made  the  great  light,  and  the  lesser 
light,  and  all  that  fills  creation. 

I  was  sorry  to  leave  this  interesting  monument  of 
early  civilization,  so  like  what  is  called  the  treasury 
of  Atreus,  or  the  tomb  of  Agamemnon,  at  Mycene, 
yet  older,  and  with  such  a  mixture  of  Egyptian  and 
Greek  art  in  its  idea  and  execution  ;  but  I  was  still 
more  sorry  to  see  the  state  of  utter  neglect  in  which 
it  lay.  The  passage  and  chambers  had  been  seven 
feet  high,  but  they  are  now  so  blocked  up,  that  we 
had  often  to  stoop,  and  in  some  parts  further  progress 
is  exceedingly  difficult,  and  almost  dangerous.  The 
old  stone  door  has  been  broken  down,  and  not 
even  a  wooden  one  put  in  its  place.  Not  the  com- 
monest lock  secures  it,  and  no  respect  for  its  so- 
lemn purpose  lingers  to  hallow  it  more.  The  rain 
and  the  rubbish  are  constantly  falling  in,  and  unless 
public  opinion  be  roused  to  protect  it,  the  Regulini- 
Galassi  tomb  will  soon  be,  like  its  neighbours,  inac- 
cessible. As  I  considered  this  wonderful  remnant 
of  the  days  that  are  gone,  I  could  not  help  saying 
to  myself,  "  Is  this  treasure  really  in  Italy,  or  is  it 
in  the  land  of  barbarians  ?  has  it  really  been  exca- 
vated, and  left  in  this  state  by  scientific  men,  or  has 
it  been  sacked  by  plundering  banditti  ?" 

When  our  kind  guide  saw  how  truly  anxious  we 
were  to  obtain  all  possible  information  on  the  sub- 
ject, to  know  the  date  of  the  tomb,  the  reasons 
for  assigning  such  a  date,  and  the  ideas  of  expe- 
rienced antiquaries  concerning  it,  he  gave  us  fully 


CiERE    OR    AGYLLA. 


353 


the  opinions  of  Canina,  which  appeared   to  him  the 
most  satisfactory,  and   which,   as  nearly  as  I  can 
detail  them,  are  as    follows :— Canina  thinks  that 
the  Galassi  grave  was  originally  covered  by  a  small 
cone,  formed  round  a  centre  of  mason-work,  the  re- 
mains of  which  are  still  discernible,  and  that  it  was 
built  by  the  Agyllans,  and  constituted   the  whole  of 
the  original  structure.     The  wall  and  lower  graves, 
which  supported  a  very  large  cone,  and  enclosed 
this  tomb,  he  believes  to  have  been  added  some  few 
generations  afterwards  by  the   Lydians,  when  they 
came  over  to  the  help  of  Mezentius  and  his  Etrus- 
cans, in  whose  company  they   conquered    Agylla, 
changing  its  name   to  Caere.     It  appears  that  the 
stvle  of  buildino;  before  the  time  of  Homer  was  ex- 
actly  what  we  had  seen   here,  as    is  proved  from 
the  accounts  preserved  to  us  of  the   sepulchre   of 
'Epytus,  king  of  Arcadia.     The   stones   were  laid 
horizontally,  and  the  doorway  and  roof  were  formed 
by  their   gradual   approach,   with    a   sort  of  slight 
curve.     Over  this  was  erected  a  small  cone,  either 
of  mason-work  or  earth,  and   the   best  remaining 
specimen  of  this  style  in   Greece    is   the   so-called 
treasury  of  Atreus.     Treasury,  however,  it  could  not 
have  been,  unless  it  belonged  to  a  temple,  for  trea- 
suries were  not  built  in  open,  unprotected  places 
outside  the  walls.     Antiquaries  now  generally  agree 
that  it  was  a  sepulchre,  and  nails  are  remaining 
round  the  walls  for  vases  and  tazze,  as  in  the  tomb 
we  had  just  left.     I  have  been  told  that  the  chamber 


354 


C^RE   OR   AGYLLA, 


in  this  Mycene  building  was  once  painted,  which  the 
Agyllan  certainly  never  had  been.'* 

•  Since  writing  the  above,  I  have  obtained  from  my  friend,  Mr. 
Heathcote  Campion,  the  following  account  of  tombs  in  Greece  which 

he  visited  in  1836. 

"  The  treasury  of  Atreus  has  obtained  this  name  without  cause  or 
reason  that  I  know   of,   and  I  firmly  believe  it  to  be  the  tomb  of 
Agamemnon.     It  is  a  circular  building  about  twenty  feet  in  diameter, 
and  over  the  door  is  an  immense  stone,  cut  in  the  same  manner  as 
those  in  the  walls  of  Mycene.    The  whole  structure  is  very  regulariy 
built,  and  the  roof  tapers  to  a  point.    It  was  originally  covered  by  a 
mound  of  earth,  regulariy  thrown  up,  and  sloping  down  as  evenly  as 
a  scarped  fortification :  but  the  earth  has  been  cut  away  about  the 
door  so  as  to  display  the  immense  stones  of  which  it  is   constructed. 
There  was  formerly,  as  General  Gordon  informed  me,  an  enormous 
vase,  four  or  five  feet  high,  of  coarse  earthenware,  in  the  centre  of  this 
tomb,  which  contained  ashes,  and  which,  from  all  that  we  could  hear, 
were  the  veritable  ashes  of  the  '  King  of  men.'     This  vase  was  re- 
moved, and  was  for  a  long  time  buried  in  the  garden  of  the  General's 
house,  but  during  the  Greek  war  it  was  either  stolen,  or  it  must  have 
been  accidentally  displaced  during  a  fire  which  burnt  not  only  that 
house,  but  the  greater  part  of  Argos. 

"  The  few  experiments  which  I  myself  made  in  excavating,  were  all 
in  the  plain  of  Athens,  to  the  east  of  the  city.  The  first  tomb  we 
opened  or  dug  into,  contained  first  a  quantity  of  ashes  and  bones  mixed, 
and  then  either  underneath  them  or  mixed  with  them,  or  both,  small 
lachrymatories,  and  little  vases  in  the  shape  of  your  Etruscan  platter, 
but  about  one-eighth  of  its  size.  In  one  instance  we  found  two  rings, 
but  so  burnt  that  we  could  not  discover  of  what  metal  they  were  made, 
and  on  being  exposed  to  the  air  they  soon  crumbled  away.  One  tomb 
in  its  general  character  will  serve  as  an  example  of  all,  but  we  consi- 
dered ourselves  as  peculiarly  unfortunate  in  having  opened  six  tombs, 
without  finding  anything  really  valuable.  The  only  vase  of  any  size 
with  which  we  were  rewarded  was  considerably  injured  by  an  injudi- 
cious blow  from  a  pickaxe,  as  it  lay  not  covered  over  by  vaulted 
masonry,  like  your  Etruscans,  but  loosely  imbedded  in  the  earth.  It 
has  been  cleaned  and  repaired,  but  as  I  have  not  seen  it  since,  I  cannot 


.7 


C^RE    OK    AGYLLA. 


355 


I 


The  lower  wall  which  we  had  seen,  and  which  sur- 
rounded the  large  cone,  Canina  says,  is  in  the  style 
of  Thessaly  and  Lydia,  where  large  and  not  small 
cones  were  used,  and  is  the  same  that  is  described  in 

describe  to  you  the  figures  which  are  upon  it.  We  generally  found  the 
ashes  between  five  and  six  feet  deep,  and  frequently  two  layers,  one 
above  the  other.  Antiquarians  say  that  the  greater  part  of  these 
earthy  tombs  must  be  assigned  to  the  Roman  empire  ;  and  they  were 
certainly  those  of  the  poorer  classes,  or  we  should  have  found  more 
objects  worth  our  pains. 

"  Lord  H after  this  made  an  attempt  to  excavate  the  tumu- 
lus on  the  plain  where  the  battle  of  Leucadia  was  fought ;  but  having 
unfortunately  quarrelled  with  the  Greeks  who  were  working  for  him, 
and  three  festa  days  coming  together,  he  could  not  induce  them  to 
continue  the  excavation,  and  in  consequence  he  only  obtained  a 
small  bronze  lamp ;  but  as  the  tumulus  was  not  half  dug  out,  I  think 
this  augured  well ;  and  it  is  very  probable  that  arms  and  othef^  curio- 
sities may  still  lie  there  buried  beneath.  The  tumulus  of  Marath(to 
was  opened  some  years  ago,  and  nothing  but  a  helmet  and  a  quantity 
of  flint  arrow-heads  were  found.  (It  was  most  likely  ransacked  ages 
since.) 

'*  I  saw  one  very  beautiful  vase  in  the  possession  of  Gropius,  the  ex- 
cavator employed  by  Lord  Aberdeen,  and  one  of  the  oldest  antiquaries 
here.  It  was  in  fragments,  but  nearly  the  whole  vase  remained,  and  it 
was  very  large.  The  subject  was  a  sacrifice,  an  ox  being  led  and  ac- 
companied by  many  figures  with  their  arms  tossed  wildJy  in  the  air. 
These  figures  were  remarkably  graceful  and  highly  finished.  He  told 
me  that  vases  of  the  first  magnitude  were  found  scattered  among  the 
ashes,  without  any  further  covering,  as  well  as  in  another  kind  of  tomb 
which  is  considered  much  older^  and  which  is  frequently  found  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Athens.  It  is  a  sort  of  vault  built  of  hewn  stones, 
*he  top  of  which  is  formed  of  one  stone  superior  in  magnitude  to  the 
others.  In  one,  which  was  discovered  and  emptied  before  my  arri^  al, 
were  found  many  rich  and  beautiful  gold  ornaments,  particularly  ear- 
rings and  bracelets,  made  with  an  elegance  and  skill  which  I  cannot 
believe  the  Greeks  to  have  attained  so  early  as  Gropius  thinks  they 
did ;  that  is,  in  the  age  when  it  was  their  custom  to  bury,  between  the 
time  of  Cecrops  and  the  Trojan  war. 

"  From  the  evident  marks  of  fire  on  several  of  the  vases,  I  conclude 


356 


C^RE   OR   AGYLLA. 


CJERE   OR   AGYLLA. 


357 


the  tomb  of  Allyates,  the  father  of  Croesus.  It  is 
found  oftener  and  larger  in  Caere,  Tarquinia,  and 
Vulci,  than  in  any  other  part  of  Italy,  and  it  is  in 
these  states  that  the  Lydians  are  said  to  have 
settled.  They  used  also  stones  with  funereal  inscrip- 
tions ;  they  placed  lions  above  the  tomb-doors,  and 
some  allegorical  emblem  on  the  top  of  the  cones ; 
and  they  planted  the  whole  round  with  trees — all 
which  accompaniments  appear  to  have  been  used 
in  the  Etruscan  round  tombs.  Canina  thinks  that 
this   tomb    for    many  years  contained  the  Larthia 

that  they  were  placed  upon  the  funeral  pile,  and  from  the  depth  and  the 
irregular  manner  in  which  the  ashes  and  vases  were  found,  I  conclude 
that  the  pile  was  erected  over  a  hole  dug  previously,  and  that  the 
ashes  were  allowed  to  fall  loosely  into  it.  The  ceremony  must  have 
been  very  fine  when  the  nearest  of  kin  lighted  the  pile  at  each  corner, 
and  left  it  blazing  with  the  music  and  multitude  surrounding  it,  till  it 
gradually  sank  and  the  embers  were  extinguished  with  wine.  I  con- 
clude that  the  ashes  of  the  poorer  classes  were  dropped  into  the  pit 
already  dug,  that  they  were  covered  over,  and  that  here  the  ceremony 
finished  ;  whilst  those  of  the  rich  were  collected  and  deposited  in  unis 
of  porphyry  and  marble,  and  sometimes  of  gold  and  silver,  and  had 
fea^its  and  games  held  in  honour  of  them. 

"  You  know  that  after  it  became  the  custom  to  bury  the  dead  out- 
side the  city,  the  principal  tombs  used  generally  to  line  the  high  roads ; 
and  it  has  been  remarked,  that  those  containing  the  richest  ornaments 
are  usually  close  to  the  road,  while  the  poorer  ones  are  situated  be- 
hind them,  whence  it  seems  probable  that  even  in  the  grave  the  rich 
paid  for  their  frontage,  and  the  poor  who  were  unable  to  do  so  were 
thrust  behind. 

"  Another  custom  was  to  throw  up  a  mound  of  earth  over  the  dead» 
a  practice  strangely  in  contradiction  of  their  frequent  wishes  that  the 
earth  might  be  light  upon  the  dead  body.  I  have  never  seen  it  re- 
marked by  others,  but  I  could  not  help  remarking  myself,  that  we 
never  saw  a  tumulus  opened  that  had  not  a  head-stone  :  and  I  think 
it  probable  that  these  head-stones  were  originally  above  ground,  but 
have  gradually  sunk  until  the  grass  and  weeds  have  overgrown  them.*' 


i 


only,  and  that  the  two  side-chambers  were  not  made 
until  her  great  descendant  came  to  be  laid  in  the 
same  place  of  honour.  He  says  they  are  of  a  later 
construction  and  style  than  the  original  burying- 
place,  though  all  bear  marks  of  the  most  remote 
antiquity  The  similarity  between  the  oldest  Greek, 
the  Egyptian,  and  the  Tyrrhenian,  is  indeed  con- 
stantly forced  upon  one  in  Etruria ;  but  I  did  not 
know  that  it  was  a  remark  made  by  the  ancients 
themselves,  until  this  day  which  we  spent  with  the 
Arciprete.  It  appears  that  Strabo,  in  his  seven- 
teenth book,  describes  the  temple  of  the  sun  at 
Heliopolis  in  Egypt,  and  he  says  that  the  interior 
walls  of  that  edifice  were  covered  with  figures  sculp- 
tured after  the  manner  of  the  Tyrrhenoi,  and  of  the 
primitive  Hellenists  or  Greeks,  but  not  of  the  Greeks 
of  his  day.  Perhaps  it  may  infer  a  coeval  antiquity 
in  Hellas  (or  Greece)  and  Etruria ;  at  all  events, 
Canina  thinks  that  the  tomb  we  had  been  visiting 
cannot  be  less  than  3,000  years  old,  and  remarks,  as 
a  further  proof,  that  none  of  the  vases  discovered  in 
it  have  upon  them  any  details  of  the  Trojan  war,  but 
are  all  in  the  Archaic  or  Egyptian  style,  and  the 
bronzes  are  not  unlike  some  of  those  found  in  the 
sepulchre  of  Atreus :  besides,  that  the  Argives  used 
to  bury  quantities  of  bronze  articles  with  their  dead, 
and  we  have,  in  particular,  mention  made  of  the  Tha- 
lamus, or  brazen  couch  of  Acrizius  long  before  the 
Trojan  war,  which  Thalamus  was  probably  very  like 
the  bier  we  saw  at  General  Galassi's,  only  larger. 
It  is  researches  like  these  which  convince  us  that 


I 


358 


CiERE  OR  AGYLLA. 


C^RE  OR  AGYLLA. 


359 


the  accounts  of  Virgil  and  Homer  are  credible,  when 
they  describe  beautiful  works  of  art  in  the  very  re^ 
mote  ages  ;  and  surely  it  must  give  us  tenfold  more 
interest  in  their  poems,  when  we  have  reason  to 
think  they  are  depicting  real  things.  I  have  heard 
Professor  Roselini  say  that  he  looked  upon  Homer 
as  the  most  correct  of  historians,  and  that  it  was  the 
tombs  of  Egypt  which  had  taught  him  to  think  so. 

Canina  assigns  the  time  between  Mezentius  and 
Tullus  Hostilius,  that  is,  from  the  fall  of  Troy  to 
about  the  end  of  the  first  century  of  Rome,  for  the 
period  during  which  the  large  cone  of  this  tomb, 
the  Cucumella  at  Vulci,  and  the  round  tombs  we 
have  named  at  Tarquinia,  must  have  been  erected ; 
and  he  thinks  that  they  have  been  dedicated  to 
the  chiefs  slain  in  war,  which  is  very  probable. 
The  mausoleum  of  Augustus  was  built  upon  this 
Etruscan  modelby  the  advice  of  his  friend  Mecaenas. 
The  central  chamber  contained  himself,  and  at  a 
lower  elevation  were  chambers  all  round  for  his 
kindred.  The  whole  was  covered  with  earth,  and 
planted  round  with  trees.  It  is  almost  as  much  de- 
stroyed as  the  Regulini  tomb,  and  its  plan,  to  my 
eyes,  is  less  recognisable,  in  the  present  arena  for 
horsemen  and  bull-fights  in  the  heart  of  Rome. 
Whoever  looks  upon  the  mound  surmounted  by  a 
lion,  which  now  covers  our  own  brave  countrymen 
in  the  field  of  Waterloo,  will  see  a  model  of  what 
has  once  been  the  appearance  of  the  hill  on  which 
we  stood  above  the  Larthia's  grave. 

We  did  not  visit  any  of  the  graves  in  the  sur- 


rounding wall,  but  we  were  told  that  they  all  pre- 
sent the  same  style  of  architecture,  only  with  more 
regularity,  and  a  better  finish ;  all,  however,  were 
anterior  to  the  discovery,  or  at  least  to  the  use  of 
the  arch,  which  was  employed  in  building  by  the 
Tarquinians  in  the  days  of  Tullus  Hostilius— we 
know  not  how  much  earlier — and  was  introduced  by 
Tarquinius  Priscus  into  Rome.  All  tombs,  there- 
fore, found  arched,  and  all  with  a  roof-tree  across, 
Canina  places  at  a  later  period  than  this  one. — 
Some  very  fine  specimens  of  roof  construction,  I  be- 
lieve still  visible,  were  found  in  Mount  Abetone,  and 
investigated  from  Rome  in  1835.  We  had  not  time 
to  visit  them. 

We  left  with  a  sigh  this  relic  of  Agylla,  and  went 
to  the  edge  upon  the  other  side,  which  divides  it 
from  the  next  tumulus,  once  a  twin  brother,  and 
still  preserving  a  likeness ;  partner  in  glory,  and 
partner  in  decay.  It  is  lowered  and  pulled  to  pieces 
like  Mount  Regulini ;  only,  instead  of  Indian  corn,  it 
is  covered  with  vines.  Of  course,  when  excava- 
tions are  made  in  it,  they  must  be  covered  in  again 
without  delay,  that  the  vines  may  not  suffer.  Here 
a  tomb  had  just  been  opened  of  similar  construction 
and  similar  riches,  but  it  could  not  be  seen.  It  was 
filled  up,  and  in  all  likelihood  is  now  utterly  destroyed. 
It  belonged  to  Signor  Calabrese,  a  rich  farmer,  who 
"  could  do  what  he  chose  with  his  own,"  and  the  only 
tax  upon  whose  free  will  was,  that  he  might  not 
sell  to  a  stranger  without  the  leave  of  his  govern- 


360 


C^RE   OR    AGYLLA. 


ment.  We  could  get  no  explicit  and  satisfactory 
description  or  account  of  this  tumulus.  I  under- 
stood that  in  it  there  were  several  bodies,  and  that 
the  principal  one  was  that  of  a  warrior,  with  a 
superb  mantle  thrown  over  him,  worked  in  gold, 
like  that  of  the  Larthia  ;  but  whether  he  had  lain  in 
a  small  central  cone,  and  was  by  himself,  or  not,  I 
could  by  no  means  ascertain.  The  papal  govern- 
ment was  in  treaty  with  Calabrese,  to  buy  from  him 
his  treasure  trove  en  masse,  as  it  had  done  before 
from  General  Galassi,  and  I  believe  the  purchase 
was  completed,  in  which  case  future  travellers  may 
contemplate  at  ease  all  the  objects  which  were  found 
there  in  some  other  rich  compartment  of  the  Museo 
Gregoriano.  On  this  day,  however,  the  greater 
part  of  them  were  still  safe  in  Calabrese's  own  house, 
and  the  Arciprete,  who  knew  him  well,  offered  to 
take  us  to  see  them. 

There  were  three  or  more  tumuli  beyond  Cala- 
brese's;  and  as  they  were  all  in  the  same  condi- 
tion, we  did  not  waste  our  time  in  a  fruitless 
examination  of  them,  but  crossed  Mount  Regulini 
once  more,  to  the  style  by  which  we  had  entered 
it.  Directly  opposite  Mount  Regulini  and  Calabrese 
is  the  height,  upon  which  anciently  stood  the  citadel, 
so  that  the  soldiers  had  daily  before  their  eyes  the 
distinguished  honours  which  marked  the  graves  of 
their  most  distinguished  chiefs.  Those  who  had 
fallen  in  defence  of  their  country,  and  were,  there- 
fore,  buried   apart    from   the  quiet  and  peaceable 


CiERE    OR    AGYLLA. 


361 


r 


citizens.  Upon  the  ground  over  which  we  trod, 
pieces  of  broken  pottery ,  both  red  and  black,  were  lying 
about  in  all  directions,  the  fragments  of  common 
wine  and  oil  vessels  which  had  been  extracted 
from  these  numerous  graves.  We  saw  specimens 
of  them  in  the  Arciprete's  garden ;  some  are  of 
immense  size,  and  all  are  large,  with  two  handles, 
and  peaked  bottoms  for  sticking  them  into  the 
ground.  The  form  may  be  seen  upon  the  scarabei. 
The  Arciprete'*s  were  all  of  coarse  clay,  and  were 
most,  if  not  all  of  them,  painted  in  black,  red, 
yellow,  and  blue  lines,  which  went  round  them  in 
circles  or  in  Vandykes,  and  upon  the  central  part 
were  large  fish  resembling  the  paintings  we  had 
found  at  Veii.  There  are  some  Egyptian  vases  in 
the  British  Museum  so  like  what  we  saw  at  Caere, 
that  were  they  placed  together,  I  do  not  think  it 
would  be  possible  to  distinguish  between  them.  I 
remarked  that  those  belonging  to  the  Arciprete 
faded  exceedingly  upon  exposure  to  the  air,  and  I 
should  not  wonder  if  in  a  few  years  the  colours  upon 
them  were  scarcely  to  be  traceable. 

We  now  walked  on,  through  the  walled  village 
of  Cervetri,  to  the  house  of  Signor  Calabrese.  He 
was  away  from  home,  gone  with  Cavaliere  Visconti 
to  make  some  arrangements  about  selling  his  trea- 
sures, that  very  day,  to  the  government ;  but  his 
handsome  wife  no  sooner  saw  a  party  of  strangers 
desirous  of  visiting,  and  investigating  what  they 
could  of  the  antiquities  of  her  country,  in  the  com- 
pany of  the  Arciprete,  than   she  gave  us  a  most 

R 


362 


CiERE    OR    AGYLLA. 


C^RE    OR    AG\LLA. 


363 


cordial  welcome ;   and  though    she  regretted    that 
only  a  very  small  portion  of  the  objects  which  had 
been  found  were   left   within  her    power,  the  rest 
being  locked  up  in  a  room,  of  which  her  husband 
had  the  key,  vet  she  desired  us  to   walk  up  stairs, 
and  said  that  vVe  should  see  all  that  she  could  show 
us      To  me  the  sight  of  an  Italian  farmhouse  was 
in 'itself  interesting.     It   was  very  large,  but  con- 
sisted  onlv  of  two  stories,  the  lower  one  being  wholly 
occupied  with   cellars  for  wine  and  oil,  and  with 
store-rooms.     We  entered  by  a   hall,  in  which    a 
number  of  barrels  and  instruments  of  husbandry 
were  lying  about.     We  then  ascended  the  staircase, 
and  on  the  landing-place  found  two  doors,  one  in 
front  and  one  upon  the  right  hand.     As  I  have  a 
talent  for  taking  the  wrong  way,  I  opened  the  door 
in  front,  and  found  myself  in  a  very  clean,  comfort- 
able Italian  kitchen,  beyond  which  I  strayed  into  a 
nursery  or  sitting  room,  in  which  it  appeared  to  me 
tbat  maids,  mistress,  and  children,  spent  the  morn- 
ing to-ether.     I  had  hardly  time  to  speak  to  a  fat 
rosy,   black-eyed   child,   and    to   look   around  me 
before  I  was  called  away  in  some  haste,  and  told 
that  I  had  entered  the  private  apartments,  instead 
of  the   reception    rooms.     I    accordingly  retraced 
my  steps,  and  from  the  landing-place  went  in  at 
the    right-hand    door,    when    we    passed    through 
three  light,  airy,  well-proportioned,  and  very  cheer- 
ful  rooms,   before  we   sat  down.      I  believe  there 
was  not  a  fire-place  in  any  one  of  them,  but  as  they 
would  be  warmed  with  a  great  brasier  of  charcoal 


whenever  they  were  cold,  that  did  not  signify.     The 
floors  were  bright  and  polished,  and  the  walls  were 
painted,    as    walls    always    are    in    Italy,  and   the 
furniture  in  each  room  was  the  same.     Ottomans 
round  the  walls,  with  half  a  dozen  chairs,  besides  a 
small  round  marble    table    in    the    middle,    and  a 
small    glass    cupboard  in  one  corner.      There  ap- 
peared to  be  a  suite  of  three  more  company  rooms 
similarly  furnished  along  the  other  side  of  the  house, 
but   we  only  entered   two  of  them.     Chairs   were 
placed  for  us  in  the  third  room  of  the  first  suite,  and 
we  sat  round  the  marble  table,  to  which  our  hostess 
brought    a    small    glass    case,  containing   the   few 
articles  of  gold  found  in  her  husband's  tomb,  which 
had  not  been  removed  out  of  sight.     It  strikes  me 
that  they  were  such  as  Cav.  Visconti  did  not  intend 
to  buy  for  the  Gregorian  museum,  and  that  none  of 
those  which  he  was  in  treaty  for  could  be  seen.     As 
I  understood  the    handsome  signora,  her  husband 
had   taken    with  him  the  jewels   which   the  Pope 
desired  to  purchase,  and  a  number  of  bulky  articles 
of  bronze  and  terra  cotta  remained  in  the  house,  but 
they  were  all  locked  up  in  a  store-room,  and  were 
not  accessible.     We  saw  a  quantity  of  gold  which 
had  adorned  the  dress  of  the  dead  warrior,  and  was 
spread  in  flowers  in  some  sort  of  pattern  over  his 
person.     The  corpse  or  corpses,  like  those  in  the 
Regulini  tomb,  had  been  uncofiined,  and  the  gold, 
as  we  saw  it,  lay  in  lumps,  and  was  to  be  melted  and 
sold  by  weight  to  a  goldsmith,  the  fate  which  most 
of  the  gold  of  Caere  in  former  days  has  undergone. 

R  2 


c 


364 


C-ERE    OR    AGYLLA. 


There  were  two  scarabei ;  the  engraving  upon  each 
was  deep,  but  not  fine,  in  the  round  hole  style. 
One  of  these  had  the  Egyptian  impress  of  two  gods, 
probably  Isis  and  Horus,  but,  for  aught  I  know, 
it  might  be  Pthah  and  Anubis,  as  they  also  are 
frequently  represented  upon  the  scarabei,  and  I  do 
not  know  all  the  Egyptian  deities  in  their  various 
forms  and  attributes.  One  of  them  was  seated, 
and  a  merry  companion  of  ours  declared  that  the 
gods   were   beguiling  their  time   with    a  game  at 

chess. 

We  saw  some  serpent  rings  of  elastic  gold  of 

large  size,  a  chain  of  the  Trichinopoly   kind,  and  a 
golden  fibula  of  delicate  and  finished  workmanship; 
and  this  is  all  that  I  particularly  recollect,  though 
not  all  that  we  saw  of  curious  and  interesting ;  for 
those  who  were  better  informed  than  myself,  found 
things  to  admire-either  engraved  gems,  or  bronzes, 
or  terra  cotta,  after  I  became  tired.     Signora  Cala- 
brese  showed  some    curiosities    from    other   tombs 
which  did  not  interest  me,  because  at  the  time  I 
was  wholly  bent  upon  ascertaining  what  had  been 
found  in  this  last  tumulus  ;    and  old  as  the  other 
tombs  were,  I  considered  them  of  a  much  later  date, 
being  of  Csere,    whilst  the  Calabrese  tumulus  be- 
longed to  Agylla.     I  once  heard  a  long  description 
and  enumeration,  at  the  Archaeological  Society,  of 
the   articles    discovered    in    it   when   it   was    first 
opened ;  but  trusting  to  see  them  all,  I  omitted  to 
make   any    memorandum    of   what    I    heard,    and 
there  appeared  to  me  a  secrecy  and  a  mystery  to  be 


C^RE    OR    AGYLLA. 


365 


observed  about  it,  until  the  government  transaction 
should  have  been  completed,  which  it  was  vain  for 
us   to  attempt   to  penetrate.     I    remember   a   few 
curious  drinking  vessels  of  terra  cotta,  some  of  them 
like  arms  and  heads,  and  two  in  the  shape  of  legs, 
like  those  represented  on  the  Triclinium  tazza ;  but 
I  was  so  much  attracted  by  the  living  beauty,  that 
I  paid,  on  this  occasion,  less  regard  than   usual  to 
the  riches  and  memorials  of  the  dead.     Our  hostess, 
a  very  handsome  and  dignified  young  woman,  had 
eight    children,   three  of  whom  we  saw,  and  the 
others  were  at  school,  some  of  them  even  at  Rome. 
She  did  not  seem  to  consider  the  size  of  her  family 
as  at  all  extraordinary,  whilst  we  were  surprised  at 
it,  because  we  had  constantly  been  told  that  Italian 
families  never  exceeded  four  children  ;  and  we  had 
many  opportunities  afterwards  of  knowing  that  this 
is  a  great  mistake,  and  a  sort  oi'fact  not  known  to 
the  Italians  themselves,  though  it  passes  for  certain 
truth  so  often  amongst  strangers. 

From  Calabrese's  we  proceeded  to  look  at  the 
palace  of  Prince  Ruspoli,  the  lord  of  the  manor, 
whose  eldest  son  is  the  Prince  of  Cervetri.  It 
appears  at  one  time  to  have  been  fortified  and 
garrisoned,  but  the  wars  of  the  Barons  are  over  now, 
and  the  French  drove  the  princedoms  before  them, 
so  that  little  remains  but  long  suites  of  uninhabited 
rooms,  in  a  large  white  building,  with  an  arched 
port  cochere  in  the  centre,  and  a  court  in  front, 
flanked  by  two  white  wings.  Not  far  from  this 
palace,  we  passed  a  house  in  the  market-place,  in 


366 


CiERE    OR    AGYLLA, 


front  of  which   were  hanging  two  iron  collars,  to 
denote   the   prince's   right  to   hang,   or   otherwise 
punish,  all  intruders  into  his  domain,  if  he  thought 
proper :  and  they  forcibly  reminded  me  of  our  old 
Scottish  jougs,  which  were  very  much  of  the  same 
form,  and  destined  to  the  same  use,  and  which  ex- 
isted as  a  privilege  in  the  days  of  my  own  grand- 
father.    They  were  emblems,  and  by  no  means  sine- 
cure ones,  of  the  laird's  right  of  jurisdiction;  and  I 
do  not  suppose  they   were  used  with  us,  a  century 
ago,  either  much  more  or  less  mercifully  than   in 
Italy.      My    grandfather   never   hanged    vagrants, 
which  perhaps  a  prince  might  still  do  ;  but  I   have 
heard  of  his  having  them  very  severely  punished, 
and    being  applauded  for    doing  so.     The  church 
contained  little  worth  notice,  and  does  not  repay  the 
time  spent  upon  it. 

Travellers  should  now  proceed  over  the  ground 
in    which  ancient  Caere  or   Agylla   once   stood.— 
It   covered   the  whole  of  that  elevated  table-land 
on  a  point  of  which  Cervetri  now  stands,  having 
the  mount  Abetone  to  the  east,  and  the  vast  ancient 
cemetery,   or   as   it  is  called  "  necropolis,"  to  the 
west  and  north-west.     "  This  once  populous  town 
now,"  according  to  Gell,  "  contains  117  inhabitants. 
Portions  of  the  ancient  wall  have  been  employed, 
both  in  the  habitations,  and  in  the  gothic  fortifica- 
tions at  the  gate.     Half  a  mile  beyond  the  necro- 
polis are  the  ruins  of  a  gate  of  squared  blocks,  called 
Porta  Antica,  of  which  the  architrave  is  gone.     A 
path  runs  from  this  place  toward  Monte   Abetone, 


CJERE    OR    AGYLLA. 


367 


on  which  is  situated  a  castle  which  seems  to  be 
ancient ;  it  is  built  with  regular  blocks,  and  is  called 
by  the  peasants  Castel  Dannato.  At  Cervetri 
several  tumuli  have  been  found  covering  five  sepul- 
chral  chambers  cut  in  the  tufo,  but  not  painted, 
though  of  various  architecture.  In  one  is  a  seat  and 
a  footstool."  I  presume  these  tombs  are  those 
which  were  found  in  Monte  Abetone  in  1834.  The 
town,  like  all  other  Etruscan  towns,  was  walled 
round,  having  towers  at  certain  distances,  and  four 
principal  gates.  Monte  Abetone  in  the  olden  time 
was  covered  with  pine  trees,  and  dedicated  to  the 
god  Sylvanus,  who  had  a  temple  and  altar  here  ; 
but  we  had  no  time  to  visit  it,  or  its  few  curious 

graves. 

The  great  necropolis  on  the  other  side  is  called 
the  "  Banditaccia,"  and  presents  a  very  singular 
appearance,  being  a  table-land  full  of  caverns,  and 
burrowed  with  holes.  It  is  of  course  insulated,  and 
separated  by  a  valley  from  the  site  of  the  town.  It 
was  once,  like  the  Monte  Rozzi  at  Tarquinia, 
divided  into  streets  and  squares,  and  it  still  presents 
such  a  strange  regularity  in  its  ruined  confusion, 
as  is  probably  to  be  seen  nowhere  else.  From 
having  been  the  secret  treasure-house  and  last  rest- 
ing-place of  a  highly  moral,  orderly,  wealthy,  and 
civilized  people,  it  became  suddenly  the  noisy  and 
fearful  habitation  of  a  tribe  of  bandits,  lawless  and 
dissipated  men,  utterly  reckless  of  all  but  plunder. 
They  feared  no  ghost,  neither  demon  nor  genius, 
but  scattered  the  sacred  dust,  and  ritled  the  narrow 


•.*»f.V-r~W» 


3i»„^. 


•:><jJ?^;, 


:m 


OR    AGYLLA. 


front  of  wtiicli  were  hanging  two  iron  collars,  to 
denote  the  prince's  right  to  hang,  or  otherwise 
punish,  all  intruders  into  his  domain,  if  he  thought 
proper :  and  they  forcibly  reminded  me  of  our  old 
Scottish  jougs,  which  were  very  much  of  the  same 
form,  and  destined  to  the  same  use,  and  which  ex- 
isted as  a  privilege  in  the  days  of  my  own  grand- 
father. They  were  emblems,  and  by  no  means  sine- 
cure ones,  of  the  laird's  right  of  jurisdiction  ;  and  I 
do  not  suppose  they  were  used  with  us,  a  century 
ago,  either  much  more  or  less  mercifully  than  in 
Italy.  My  grandfather  never  hanged  vagrants, 
which  perhaps  a  prince  might  still  do  ;  but  I  have 
heard  of  his  having  them  very  severely  punished, 
and  being  applauded  for  doing  so.  The  church 
contained  little  worth  notice,  and  does  not  repay  the 
time  spent  upon  it. 

Travellers  should  now  proceed  over  the  ground 
in  which  ancient  Caere  or  Agylla  once  stood. — 
It  covered  the  whole  of  that  elevated  table-land 
on  a  point  of  which  Cervetri  now  stands,  having 
the  mount  Abetone  to  the  east,  and  the  vast  ancient 
cemetery,  or  as  it  is  called  "  necropolis,"  to  the 
west  and  north-west.  "  This  once  populous  town 
now,"  according  to  Gell,  "  contains  117  inhabitants. 
Portions  of  the  ancient  wall  have  been  employed, 
both  in  the  habitations,  and  in  the  gothic  fortifica- 
tions at  the  gate.  Half  a  mile  beyond  the  necro- 
polis are  the  ruins  of  a  gate  of  squared  blocks,  called 
Porta  Antica,  of  which  the  architrave  is  gone.  A 
path  runs  from  this  place  toward  Monte  Abetone, 


CiERE   OR   AGYLLA. 


367 


on  which  is  situated  a  castle  which  seems  to  be 
ancient ;  it  is  built  with  regular  blocks,  and  is  called 
by  the  peasants  Castel  Dannato.  At  Cervetri 
several  tumuli  have  been  found  covering  five  sepul- 
chral  chambers  cut  in  the  tufo,  but  not  painted, 
though  of  various  architecture.  In  one  is  a  seat  and 
a  footstool."  I  presume  these  tombs  are  those 
which  were  found  in  Monte  Abetone  in  1834.  The 
town,  like  all  other  Etruscan  towns,  was  walled 
round,  having  towers  at  certain  distances,  and  four 
principal  gates.  Monte  Abetone  in  the  olden  time 
was  covered  with  pine  trees,  and  dedicated  to  the 
god  Sylvanus,  who  had  a  temple  and  altar  here ; 
but  we  had  no  time  to  visit  it,  or  its  few  curious 

graves. 

The  great  necropolis  on  the  other  side  is  called 
the  "  Banditaccia,"  and  presents  a  very  singular 
appearance,  being  a  table-land  full  of  caverns,  and 
burrowed  with  holes.  It  is  of  course  insulated,  and 
separated  by  a  valley  from  the  site  of  the  town.  It 
was  once,  like  the  Monte  Rozzi  at  Tarquinia, 
divided  into  streets  and  squares,  and  it  still  presents 
such  a  strange  regularity  in  its  ruined  confusion, 
as  is  probably  to  be  seen  nowhere  else.  From 
having  been  the  secret  treasure-house  and  last  rest- 
ing-place of  a  highly  moral,  orderly,  wealthy,  and 
civilized  people,  it  became  suddenly  the  noisy  and 
fearful  habitation  of  a  tribe  of  bandits,  lawless  and 
dissipated  men,  utterly  reckless  of  all  but  plunder. 
They  feared  no  ghost,  neither  demon  nor  genius, 
but  scattered  the  sacred  dust,  and  ritled  the  narrow 


Jl 


368 


CiERE    OR    AGYLLA, 


chamber,  and  dressed  themselves  and  their  children 
in    the  spoils  of  the  quiet   and  unresisting    dead. 
As  they  lived  by  deeds  of  darkness,  so  they  dwelt 
in   the   habitations  of  those  whose  name    was    no 
longer  whispered  among  the  living,  and  it  was  from 
a  village  of  animated  sepulchres  that  they  sallied 
forth,  to  extort  ransom  from  the  merchant,  and  gold 
or  blood  from  the  traveller.     I  would  not  say  that 
the  Banditaccia  is  a  safe  place  yet,  but   there  are 
very  few  places  anywhere,  either  in  or  out  of  Italy, 
which    may    not    be  visited  by  an   Englishman  of 
ordinary  prudence,  and  in  the  broad  light  of  day. 
This  necropolis  had  once  in  it  a  great  number  of 
those  round  and  conical  tumuli  to   be  seen  in   the 
plate  of  Tarquinia,  but  they  are  all  now  destroyed, 
and  but  few  even  of  the  caverns  present  anything 
new  to  make  them  worth  a  visit ;  yet  it  is  a  most 
extraordinary  place,  and  it  interested  us,  from   our 
knowing  so  thoroughly  what  it  originally  was,   and 
what  until  very  lately  it  had  become;  that  is,  a  den 
of  thieves. 

We  were  told  in  Rome  that  many  painted 
graves  had  been  opened  here  of  considerable  beauty, 
and  that  memoirs  of  them  were  preserved  in  the 
papers  of  the  Archaeological  Society.  Micali  says 
that  they  still  exist,  but  we  did  not  see  them,  and 
indeed  our  guide  denied  that  any  such  thing  as 
historical  or  mythological  subjects  had  ever  been 
found  in  the  tombs  of  Caere.  He  said  that  paint- 
ings of  monstrous  animals,  and  a  few  arabesque 
cornices,  were  sometimes  found,  but  he  had  never 


- 


CiERE    OR    AGYLLA. 


369 


heard  of  anything  better  than  what  we  had  seen  at 
Monterone;  and  from  his  apparent  unwillingness 
to  lead  us  into  these  tombs,  after  hearing  that  we 
had  been  at  Tarquinia,  I  conclude  that  they  were 
much  faded.  Vases  of  the  most  beautiful  form  and 
enamel  are  occasionally  met  with,  and  quantities 
of  small  rude  bronze  idols,  and  mummy  figures  of 
superior  workmanship,  and  of  highly  polished  clay 
It  is  my  impression  that  these  are  sometimes  found 
on  the  site  of  the  old  city,  as  w  ell  as  in  the  tombs. 
There  is  a  considerable  love  of  art  amongst  the  men 
of  Cervetri,  and  a  pride  in  the  great  antiquity  and 
ancient  history  of  the  spot.  An  intelligent  peasant 
will  point  out  to  you  the  situation  of  the  old  gates, 
and  the  traces  of  what  not  less  than  two  or  three 
thousand  years  ago  were  highways,  and  he  will 
look  towards  the  sea,  and,  pointing  to  the  lonely 
fort  of  San  Severa,  sav,  "  There  stood  our  ancient 
port  of  Pyrgi." 

There  must  have  been  four  great  roads  about 
Caere,  as  the  four  gates  can  quite  well  be  dis- 
covered in  the  breaks  of  the  rocky  cliffs  ;  but  only 
three  of  these  roads  are  distinctly  visible.  One  of 
them  led  to  Veii,  and  is  paved ;  another,  from  the 
north  gate,  w^ound  by  the  cemetery  and  its  high 
round  tombs  to  Pyrgi ;  and  this  is  considered  to  be 
Etruscan  or  Agyllan,  and  coeval  with  the  highest 
prosperity  of  the  place.  Part  of  the  third  I  suppose 
we  had  been  travelling  upon.  It  led  from  the  east 
gate  down  to  the  Via  Aurelia,  and  is  said  to  have 

R  5 


/ 


370 


C^RE    OR    AGYLLA. 


been  Etruscan,  but  restored  and  kept  up  by  the 
Romans,  all  the  pavement  which  now  remains 
being  Roman  work.  This  Via  Aurelia  commu- 
nicated also  with  the  south  and  west  gates.  But 
though  the  breaks  in  the  rock  are  very  evident 
which  these  gates  once  filled,  no  superstructure  of 
any  kind,  gate,  wall,  or  tower,  remains.  I  do  not 
believe  that  there  is  one  stone  upon  another  which 
has  not  been  overturned,  and  part  of  these  stones 
I  have  already  mentioned  as  employed  to  make  a 
fence  below  Cervetri. 

The  extent  of  the  Agyllan  city  lay  between 
Monte  Abetone,  with  its  dark  fir  woods  on  the 
one  side,  and  the  great  necropolis,  now  the  Ban- 
ditaccia,  on  the  other ;  and  whilst  I  looked  upon 
this  singular  burying-ground,  and  considered  its 
ancient  picturesque  form,  I  could  not  help  thinking 
how  curious  it  was  that  Pere  la  Chaise  and  the 
mound  of  Waterloo  should  each  in  its  way  have 
been  revivals  of  an  old  Etruscan  cemetery. 

The  old  boundaries  of  this  little  state  were 
Veii  on  the  one  side,  and  Tarquinia  on  the  other, 
and  within  these  boundaries  were,  no  doubt, 
some  smaller  dependent  towns,  of  which  we  only 
know  the  name  of  one,  Artena,  destroyed  during 
the  Roman  monarchy,  and  placed  by  Nibby  at  the 
present  Castellaccio,  close  to  Veii.  The  state  was 
watered  by  three  small  rivers.  The  Aro,  now  called 
Arrone ;  the  Minio,  now  Mignone,  which  joined 
the  sea  at  Gravisco ;    and   the   Amnis    Ceritis,    as 


•     N 


C^RE   OR    AGYLLA. 


371 


Virgil  calls  it,  now  the  Vaccina,  which  is  the  only 
one  we  saw.  It  is  little  more  than  a  brook,  and 
ran  between  the  town  and  Monte  Abetone. 

As  we  returned  towards  the  Arciprete's  house,  we 
called  at  two  separate  places  where  curiosities  taken 
out  of  the  graves  are  to  be  seen,  but  whether  to  be 
purchased  or  not  I  cannot  say,  as,  greatly  to  our  dis- 
appointment, neither  of  the  proprietors  were  at 
home,  and  the  remaining  curiosities  which  we 
saw  were,  therefore,  owing  to  the  kind  exertions 
of  our  friendly  and  benevolent  host.  He  sent  out 
to  a  young  man  who  had  a  few  articles  for  sale, 
and  who  immediately  obeyed  the  summons,  coming 
in  with  good  manners  and  very  substantially  dressed, 
and  giving  us  the  idea  of  a  well-doing  small 
farmer.  He  brought  some  very  beautiful  gold 
ornaments,  chiefly  chains,  clasps,  bracelets,  and 
serpent  rings,  and  one  ornament  made  of  alloyed 
gold,  the  base  metal  of  which  was  quite  corroded. 
Oneoftlie  chains,  of  extremely  beautiful  and  de- 
licate workmanship,  must  have  belonged  to  a  lady, 
and  was  certainly  the  most  exquisite  gold  ornament 
I  have  ever  seen ;  it  could  scarcely  be  exceeded 
by  that  of  which  I  have  heard  so  much,  belong- 
ing to  the  Jesuits'  museum,  and  it  even  threw 
the  jewel-table  of  the  Gregorian  into  the  shade. 
Tt  was  only  long  enough  to  go  half  round  the 
neck,  and  had  probably  extended  across  the  breast 
of  the  corpse.  It  was  formed  of  small  gold  com- 
partments,  having  sockets  which  fitted  into  each 
other   exactly,   so   as   to   be   a  perfect  rcpresenta- 


372 


C-ERE   OR    AGYLLA. 


tion  of  the  vertebrae  in  the  back  bone  of  an  animal. 
These  compartments  were  ornamented  with  filagree 
work,  fine  like  that  of  Genoa  or  of  China,  but  of  sur- 
passing elegance,  and  to  each  compartment  was 
attached  a  small  gold  heart,  which  opened,  and  had 
probably  contained  perfume.  The  young  farmer 
had  already  refused  a  hundred  louis  for  this,  which 
had  been  ofiered  him  by  a  member  of  the  family  of 
Torlonia,  and  he  asked  for  it  a  hundred  and  twenty 
louis.  I  certainly  have  never  seen  anything  to  equal 
it  in  antiquity,  skill,  and  beauty  conjoined,  but  a 
hundred  and  twenty  louis  is  a  large  sum  to  give  for 
an  ornament  which  could  never  be  used  except  as  a 
bracelet,  and  which  even  then  would  require  an 
expensive  clasp.  It,  too,  had  belonged  to  an  illus- 
trious princess  or  priestess,  whose  names  and  deeds 
are  now  unknown,  and  which  therefore  could  add 
nothing  to  its  value.  It  is  remarkable  that  the 
corpses  of  great  and  distinguished  women  seem  to 
be  as  frequently  found  at  Caere  as  those  of  men,  and 
earrings  are  often  adhering  to  the  ears,  as  if  they  had 
been  soldered  in.  I  used  to  wonder  that  we  never 
heard  of  mummies  being  discovered,  or  old  linen  like 
that  of  Egypt  being  found  ;  but  it  seems  that  in  this 
mode  of  sepulture  the  Egyptians  stood  alone,  while 
the  sepulchral  cavern,  and  the  tumulus,  and  the 
tomb,  whether  painted  or  sculptured  and  furnished, 
has  either  been  copied  from  them  originally,  or  else 
was  common  to  all  the  civilized  nations  of  the  most 
remote  antiquity,  from  the  dispersion  of  Babel 
downwards. 


r 


h 


CiERE   OR    AGYLLA. 


373 


Micali  is  of  opinion,  that  much  remains  to  be  dis- 
covered at  Caere  which  would  well  repay  the  ex- 
pense of  search  ;  but  no  Englishman  should  engage 
in  such  a  speculation,  unless  an  Italian  is  to  share 
it  with  him  ;  and  if  he  is  fortunate  in  obtaining  an 
honourable  and  well-instructed  partner,  he  may 
spend  both  his  time  and  money  in  the  purchase  of 
engrossing  interest  and  of  intense  pleasure. 

We  were  told  of  some  figures  that  were  not  un- 
frequently  found  with  four  wings  springing  from  the 
shoulders—two  raised  upwards,  and  two  drooping 
downwards.  They  are  all  flat  behind,  with  a  hole  in 
each  wing,  by  which  they  were  hung  upon  nails  on 
the  walls  of  the  grave.  These  figures  are  not 
Egyptian,  but  one  of  the  many  imitations  of  Baby- 
lonian and  Phoenician  customs,  which  are  found  more 
abundantly  at  Caere  than  elsewhere.  According  to 
Sanconiathus,  as  quoted  by  Eusebius,  Babylonian 
images  were  made  with  four  wings  in  this  precise 
form,  with  the  hands  joined  upon  the  breast.  Such 
figures  may  still  be  seen  engraved  on  Persian  cylin- 
ders, and  on  many  of  the  ancient  monuments  of 
Central  and  Western  Asia.  I  have  also  lately 
heard,  that  in  a  very  recent  excavation  (184U)  a 
marble  statue  has  been  found  thirty  feet  in  height, 
of  very  fine  workmanship,  probably  Roman,  from 
the  ancient  Forum,  but  its  locality  and  date  were 
not  specified.  My  informant  said  that  it  was  buried 
in  a  mound,  and  that  it  was  believed  to  represent 
Apollo. 

Our  conversation   naturally  turned  upon  the  an- 


374 


C^RE   OR    AGYLLA. 


cient  history  of^this  once  large  and  celebrated  city, 
and  we  found  the  Arciprete  a  man  of  reading  and 
information,  and  well  able  to  discourse  with  us  on 
the  subject.  After  all  his  opportunities  of  personal 
observation  amongst  the  tombs,  and  the  still  reiuain- 
ino-  fra^-nients  of  ruin,  he  decidedly  thought  that 
Caninas  view  of  the  antiquity  and  subsequent  for- 
tunes, first  of  Agylla  and  afterwards  of  Caere,  was 
the  most  reasonable,  because  he  draws  the  least 
from  imagination  and  the  most  from  ancient  writers, 
saying  truly  that  it  is  much  more  likely  that  writers 
who  lived  two  thousand  years  ago  should  be  accu- 
rately informed  upon  the  subject,  than  that  we,  a 
people  of  different  manners,  religion,  and  habits  of 
thought,  should  be  able  to  elicit  anything  more  true 
by  our  speculations. 

Adopting  this  view,  he  considers  that  the  his- 
tory of  the  city  and  its  cemeteries  ought  to  be 
divided  into  three  different  epochs  :  1,  the  Agyllan, 
or  that  of  the  Pelasgi ;  2,  the  Tyrrhenean,  or  that 
of  the  Etruscans;  and  3,  that  of  the  all-conquering 
and  all-engrossing  Romans.  Dionysius  of  Halicar- 
nassus  tells  us,  that  the  Pelasgians,  a  Greek  colony, 
united  with  the  aborigines  or  mountaineers  and  the 
primitive  inhabitants  of  Italy,  to  drive  out  the  Siculi 
in  the  vicinity  of  Cotila,and  still  farther  towards  the 
south  ;  and  that  they  afterwards  inhabited  and  em- 
bellished the  cities  of  the  expelled  people.  Of  this 
number,  he  says,  were  Pisa,  Agylla,  Saturnia,  and 
Alsium  ;  and  I  believe  that  Pisa  is  the  only  one  dis- 
puted by  modern  antiquarians,  who,  with  greater 
5 


C^RE    OR    AGYLLA. 


375 


probability,  consider  it  to  have  been  a  city  of  the 
Raseni  rather  than  of  the  Pelasgians.  Hence  Agylla 
would  appear  to  have  been  in  its  origin  a  town  of 
the  Siculi,  conquered,  as  some  say,  by  a  colony  of 
Greeks,  joined  to  the  native  mountaineers ;  while 
others  say  that  these  Greeks  joined  the  conquering 
Raseni  or  Etruscans,  who  were  then  extending 
their  dominions  from  the  Rhoetian  Alps  towards 
Campania. 

This  theory  appeared  to  us  the  more  reason- 
able, because  the  mountaineers  or  aborigines,  or 
Bruzzi,  as  they  are  indifferently  called,  when  traced 
back,  appear  to  have  been  themselves  no  other  than 
such  of  the  Siculi  as  had  taken  shelter  in  the  moun- 
tains from  other  invaders.  The  Pelasgians,  of  whom 
also  we  have  the  most  contradictory  accounts,  some 
styling  them  the  rudest  and  the  most  cruel  of  races, 
and  others  maintaining  that  they  brought  with  them 
every  rudiment  of  refinement,  Dionysius  relates  to 
have  been  a  colony  of  Argives, — an  idea  of  his  own, 
derived  from  the  circumstance  of  their  having 
built  a  temple  to  Juno,  the  great  goddess  of  Argos 
in  Faleria,  not  far  from  Caere,  though  we  do  not  hear 
of  any  such  temple  in  Agylla  itself;  but  he  notices 
also  that  the  tombs  of  the  Agyllans  resembled 
closely  those  of  the  oldest  construction  in  the  Argive 
part  of  Greece.  Others  say  that  the  Agyllans  were 
from  Thessaly,  and  there  is  no  discrepancy  between 
the  two  accounts ;  for  the  Pelasgians  most  certainly 
were  a  tribe  of  wanderers  from  some  other  country, 
either  Phoenicia  or  Egypt,  when  they  first  appeared 


376 


C.^RE  OR  AGYLLA. 


CiERE  OR  AGYLLA. 


377 


in  Greece  some  ages  before  the  Trojan  war,  and,  to 
the  infinite  amazement  and  consternation  of  her 
settled  tribes,  took  up  their  temporary  residence, 
sometimes  in  one  place  and  sometimes  in  ano- 
ther, until  a  new  wandering  fit  moved  them  off" 
elsewhere.  Dionysius  places  their  first  seat  at  Argos, 
under  a  king  named  Pelasgo,  after  whom  they  were 
called,  and  under  whom  they  marched  to  colonize 
Thessaly.  The  Pelasgi,  Argives,  and  Thessalians, 
are  therefore  the  same  people,  according  to  old  tra- 
dition, and  one  ship-load  of  these  wanderers  united 
with  the  Agyllans,  as  another  ship-load,  according  to 
Justin,  did  with  the  Tarquinians.  Their  settlement 
was  certainly  an  affair  of  peace,  and  not  of  war  ;  for 
Dionysius  says,  that  the  first  settlers  were  few  in 
number  and  unarmed,  possibly  cast  away  at  sea,  and 
that  they  solicited  leave  from  the  natives  to  remain 
amongst  them.  They  appear  to  have  been  men  of 
good  conduct  and  education,  and  to  have  gained  a 
leading  influence  over  the  habits,  arts,  and  even  the 
language  of  the  peo[)le ;  for  the  Agyllan  letters  are 
Greek,  and  the  very  little  that  is  known  of  their 
language,  and  of  the  Etruscan  language  also,  is  a 
mixture  of  Greek  and  Celtic ;  unless,  indeed,  as  I 
strongly  suspect,  all  the  roots  so  termed  are  derived 
from  the  Phoenician.  However,  these  colonists  did 
not  rule  over  the  ancient  people  as  conquerors  ;  they 
assimilated  themselves  with  them,  they  improved 
and  influenced  them,  they  extended  their  commerce, 
conducting  it  on  a  better  system,  and  they  have 
made  Agylla  known   to  us,  not  only  as  a  highly 


I 


civilized  city,  powerful,  rich,  and  populous,  but  as 
one  most  highly  respected  for  its  integrity  and 
moral  weight  throughout  the  whole  of  Greece. 

It  is  a  very  singular  thing,  that  if  Agylla  is  the 
ancient  native  name,  and  was  adopted  by  the  Pelas- 
gians  in  their  union  with  its  inhabitants,  they  them- 
selves gave  the  name  which  it  afterwards  bore,  and> 
as  tradition  tells  us,  most  unintentionally,  just  at  the 
time  when  they  yielded  up  their  rule  to  become  in- 
corporated wholly  with   Etruria.     The  story  told  is, 
that  when  the  Lydians  arrived  in  Italy,  one  of  them, 
who    had  lost  his  way  in  this  neighbourhood,   saw 
a  soldier  upon  the  walls  of  Agylla,  and   going  up  to 
him  asked  the  name  of  the  place.     The  man,  either 
not  understanding  the   question  or  not  being  in  a 
mood  for  conversation,  answered  "  X"'P^5 '  "  chaire" 
or  farewell,  or  hail,  as  it  is  sometimes  rendered,  and 
turned  away    The  Lydian,  having  rejoined  his  com- 
pany, told  them  that  they  could  not   undertake  the 
siege  of  any  city  under  better  omens,  for  that  its 
name  bade  them  "  Hail ;"  and  upon  this  they  and 
the  Etruscans  together  assaulted  and  took  it,  Me- 
zentius  being   general,  who  changed  its  name.     It 
was  called  Kaire  or  Caere  from  that  day  forth,  until 
its  little  daughter,  or  impertinent  rival,  the   pretty 
village  of  Caere  Nova,  sprang  into  existence,  and 
then,  like  all  other  things,  it  took  the  rank  of  old, 
and  became  Old  Caere  or  Cervetri. 

The  Agyllans,  in  their  day,  built  the  port  of  Pyrgi, 
which  was  ultimately  the  largest  and  best  known  to 
the  ancients  in  all  Italy  ;  and  they  were  for  some 


378 


C^RE   OR    AGYLLA. 


years  governed  by  king  Maleotis,  who  appears  to 
have  been  a  chief  acknowledged  by  several  tribes  be- 
sides themselves,  and  who,  becoming  tired  both  of 
Italy  and  government,  retired  to  Greece,  where  he 
died  ;  some  authors  say  at  Athens.     The  mixture  of 
the  Greeks  with  the  natives  would  appear  to  have 
taken  place  about  the  time  when  the  oracle  of  Apollo 
was  first  fixed  at  Delphi,  for  they  sent  a  treasure  to 
the  temple  as  a  thanksgiving,  upon  having  rid  them- 
selves of  the  Siculi  three  hundred  years  before  the 
Trojan  war,  which  treasure  continued  long  to  be 
distinguished  by  the  Agyllan  name;  and  Pausanias, 
in  enumerating  those  who  were  allowed   to  consult 
the  oracle  from  the  very  beginning,  expressly  names 
the  Thessalians,  whilst  Agylla  was  ever  reckoned  at 
Delphi  as  a  daughter  of  Thessaly.    Strabo  says  that 
the  Siculi  and  the  Italians  were  not  allowed  to  send 
deputies  for  many  years  after  the  Greek  tribes  had 
enjoyed  that  privilege,  and  Agylla  was  not  reckoned 
by  them  amongst  "  the  other  Italians."  It  was  famed 
for  prowess  and  a  love  of  justice,  and  is  said  to  have 
been  at  constant  war  with  the  Etruscans  or  Tyrrhe- 
nians, in  order  to  repress  their  incursions  by  land, 
and  their  piracy  at  sea.  At  one  time  it  kept  all  that 
part  of  the  Mediterranean  in  perfect  safety,  and  we 
have  already  mentioned  the  quantity  of  gold  which 
it  had  accumulated  in  its  temple  of  Alytia  or  Mater 
Matuta.     The  time  of  its   greatest    prosperity  and 
proudest  works  was  about  three  generations  before 
the  Trojan  war,  with  which  date  all  the  articles  that 
we  saw  in  the  Larthia's  tomb  perfectly  agree ;  and 


C^RE    OR    AGYLLA. 


379 


its  fame  for  good  government,  no  doubt,  induced 
many  foreigners  to  settle  there,  as  those  most  con- 
versant in  its  remains  are  of  opinion  that  Greeks, 
Phoenicians,  Lydians,  and  Egyptians,  were  all  to- 
lerated, and  preserved  their  distinct  customs  in  the 
midst  of  the  natives  here.  This  is  all  we  know  of 
it  until  a  few  years  after  the  fall  of  Troy,  at  the 
time  when  Pyrrhus  the  son  of  Achilles  was  slain  at 
Delphi,  at  which  time  a  band  of  Lydians  came  over 
into  Etruria  to  assist  the  Etruscans  or  Tyrrhenians 
in  their  wars,  and  which  ended  in  the  conquest  of 
Agylla. 

As  far  as  1  can  comprehend  the  history,  the 
Lydians  came  over  to  help  Mezentius,  a  haughty 
and  cruel  tyrant,  who  was  ruling  over  Tarqui- 
nia,  but,  being  driven  from  thence,  he  attacked, 
and  by  the  help  of  the  Lydians  subdued  Agylla, 
where  he  established  himself  for  some  years, 
until  his  cruelty  becoming  intolerable,  the  people 
rose  against  him,  burnt  his  palace,  and  drove  him 
away.  He  took  refuge  in  the  court  of  Turnus, 
king  of  the  Rutuli,  whom  he  assisted  in  his  wars 
with  .-Eneas  and  Evander,  and  he  at  one  time  com- 
manded a  thousand  men.  He  is  always  called  a 
chiefof  the  Etruscans,  and,  according  to  Dionysius, 
killed  iEneas.  His  brave  and  excellent  son  Lausus, 
who  was  as  much  beloved  as  Mezentius  was  hated, 
fell  by  the  hand  of  Ascanius,  before  the  death  of  his 
father.  Mezentius  probably  died  at  Ardea,  for  he 
is  heard  of  no  more.  After  the  expulsion  of  this 
tyrant,  Caere  seems  to  have  become  a  member  of  the 


e380 


C^RE   OR   AGYLLA. 


CiERE    OR    AGYLLA. 


381 


Etruscan  league,  which  Agylla  never  was,  and  it  is 
always  mentioned  in  its  after  history  as  a  leading 
member  of  the  confederacy.  The  Lydians  are  said 
to  have  come  over  under  Tyrrhenus,  theson  of  Atys, 
king  of  Lydia.  This  name  was  no  doubt  given  to 
their  leader,  because  he  conducted  the  colony  which 
helped  the  Tyrrhenians,  and  afterwards  settled  in 
Etruria  of  the  Tyrrheni,  or  the  country  of  "  the 
tower-building  people."  In  the  same  way  as  had 
Scipio  the  Great  settled  with  a  body  of  Romans  in 
Africa,  tradition  would,  no  doubt,  have  recorded  that 
the  Romans  colonized  such  a  place  under  Africanus. 
The  legend  of  the  Lydians,  who  most  undoubtedly 
did  come  into  Italy  at  some  time  or  other,  is  thus  re- 
lated. There  was  once  in  Lydia  so  dreadful  a  famine, 
that  the  inhabitants  knew  not  how  to  endure  the  pain 
they  felt,  and  thereupon  fell  to  the  invention  of  all 
sorts  of  games  of  chance,  such  as  dice,  pitch  and 
toss,  ball,  (fee,  and  they  agreed  that  they  would  eat 
one  day,  and  spend  the  next  entirely  in  play.  In 
this  way  they  lived  for  eighteen  years;  but  as  the 
evil  still  continued — and  certainly  with  men  who 
devoted  every  alternate  day  to  play,  it  was  not 
likely  to  decrease — their  king  divided  the  nation  into 
two  parts,  and  elected  by  lot  those  who  were  to  emi- 
grate, and  those  who  were  to  remain  at  home.  The 
emigrants  went  into  Italy  under  the  king's  son,  Tyr- 
rhenus, and  settled  there  amongst  the  liatives.  It  is 
quite  possible  that  from  this  prince,  naturalized  in 
Etruria  and  married  to  an  Etruscan,  the  mother  of 
Meeaenas  might  have  been   descended,  as   Horace 


maintains  that  he  was  of  Lydian  blood  in  the  female 
line.  It  is  just  possible  also,  that  the  dice  buried 
with  old  Velthur  of  Tuscania  may  have  been  Lydian 
dice,  and  considered  as  great  curiosities  in  his  day. 

Virgil  speaks  of  the  Lydians  as  settled  here,  and 
calls  the  city  Caere,  at  the  time  of  the  landing  of 
J^neas  ;  and  he  also  remarks  that  it  was  formerly 
called  Agylla,  and  had  been  proud,  prosperous,  and 
independent,  until  subdued  by  Mezentius.  Evander 
says  to  jEneas,  (Virg.  Book  viii.  625,) 

"  But  mighty  nations  T  prepare  to  join 
Their  arms  with  yours,  and  aid  your  just  design  : 
Not  far  from  hence  there  stands  a  hilly  town. 
Of  ancient  building  and  of  high  renown, 
Tom  from  the  Tuscans  by  the  Lydian  race. 
Who  gave  the  name  of  Caere  to  the  place. 
Once  fair  Agylla  called,  it  flourished  long 
In  pride  of  wealth,  and  warlike  people  strong. 
Till  cursed  Mezentius  in  a  fatal  hour 
Assumed  the  crown  with  arbitrary  power. 
What  words  can  paint  those  execrable  times. 
The  subject's  sufferings,  and  the  tyrant's  crimes  ? 
The  living  and  the  dead,  at  his  command. 
Were  coupled  face  to  face  and  hand  to  hand,* 
Till  choked  in  stench,  in  loathed  embraces  tied. 
The  lingering  wretches  pined  away  and  died.*' 

There  is  mention  made  of  a  treaty  between  Me- 
zentius and  ^neas,  relative  to  a  tribute,  to  which 
the  former  was  entitled,  of  all  the  wines  of  this  part 
of  Italy.  It  is  at  this  period  that  Astur  took  the 
command  in  Caere,  and  led  to  the  help  of  iEneas 
three  hundred  men.     We  do  not  know  the  grave  of 

*  An  Indian  punishment. 


382 


CMRE    OR    AGYLLA. 


Astur,  which  may  very  possibly  have  been  one  of 
those  over  which  we  trod,  but  he  is  celebrated  in  the 
iEneid   for  his  skilful    horsemanship,  and    for  his 

beautiful  armour. 

I  have  often  considered  how  the  memory  of  all 
these  things  could  be  preserved,  and  whether  the 
whole  history  of  them  was  not  the  invention  of 
the  Greek  and  Roman  writers,  the  very  earliest  of 
whom  lived  so  many  centuries  later  than  the  events 
thev  record ;  and  it  was  from  the  inkhorn  and  en- 
graved cups  found  in  the  Regulini  tomb  that  I  first 
learned  to  estimate  the  sources  from  which  they 
drew  their  information.  Though  no  MSS.  have  come 
down  to  our  day  of  that  early  period,  there  can  now 
be  no  doubt  that  such  existed,  for  writing  supposes 
reading,  and  both  suppose  documents  to  be  read. 
Indeed,  I  believe  that  when  we  read  the  words  "  Mi 
Larthia"  on  the  silver  cups  at  General  Galassi's,  we 
read  the  very  earliest  letters  that  exist  in  the  world, 
excepting  those  found  in  the  Pyramid  of  Shupho 
in  Egypt,  and  those  which  may  be  legible  on  the 
body  of  Mencheres  in  the  British  Museum.  Even 
these,  I  suspect,  are  all  hieroglyphics,  and  not  lite- 
ral characters.  No  doubt,  the  priests  of  Caere  or 
Agylla  kept  all  her  public  monuments,  and  the 
heads  of  each  great  family  would  keep  their  private 
ones,  by  which  means  traditions  may  have  been 
handed  down  to  us  but  little  falsified  in  the  mass, 
and  may  very  fairly  and  generally  be  depended 
upon,  wherever  national  vanity  and  injustice,  or  vio- 
lent party-spirit,  do  not  interfere.     As  to  those  who 


CvERE    OR    AGYLLA. 


383 


treat  all  the  records  of  remote  ages  as  fables  on 
account  of  the  various  versions  of  the  same  story 
amongst  ancient  authors,  or  their  many  disagree- 
ments, they  may  as  well  reject  all  modern  history 
upon  the  same  grounds,  for  it  has  the  same  faults ; 
and  they  may  end  in  believing  nothing  at  all  beyond 
such  events  of  their  own  day  as  have  come  under 
their  immediate  observation. 

I  give  the  legends  as  we  find  them  in  the  old  po- 
pular writers,  and  the  Etruscan  stones  are  entirely 
national  and  written  traditions,  and  most  probably 
are  true,  though  by  means  of  ^neas  they  have  been 
falsely  put  together.  We  have  no  reason  to  sup- 
pose the  whole  history  false,  and  many  reasons  to 
prove  it  the  contrary,  though  the  interposition  of 
iEneas,  and  of  all  the  events  and  settlements  neces- 
sarily connected  with  his  arrival  in  Italy,  is  a  Greek 
fable,  and  was  never  heard  of  until  the  Etruscan 
power  was  far  in  its  decline. 

We  have  no  records  of  Caere  for  many  years 
after  this  time,  excepting  that  the  arts,  and  especi- 
ally painting,  flourished  there  long  before  the  Corin- 
thians from  Tarquinia  gave  any  modification  to  the 
existing  schools  from  their  foreign  style.  Pliny 
says,  that  in  Ardea  and  Lanuvia,  painting  was  car- 
ried to  perfection  prior  to  the  foundation  of  Rome, 
and  that  Caere  possessed  excellent  paintings,  older 
than  either  of  them.  He  asserts,  moreover,  that 
painting  was  not  an  art  in  Greece  at  the  time  of  the 
Trojan  war  ;  but  Virgil  mentions  pictures  as  part  of 
the  wreck  of  Troy  saved  by  iEneas ;  and  whether 


384 


C^RE    OR    AGYLLA. 


this  be  a  poetical  flourish  or  not,  it  lias  been  prac- 
tised amongst  the  orientals  from  the  beginning,  as 
the  tombs  in  Egypt  testify. 

The  brightest  days  of  Etruscan  art  occupied  the 
space  between  the  fall  of  Mezentius  and  the  reign  of 
Tullus  Hostilius.  Romulus  took  from  Caere  his  reli- 
gious rites,  and  especially  his  vestal  virgins.  The 
Etruscan  colony  which  was  established  on  the  Mount 
Celian,  when  Romulus  first  came  to  the  banks  of  the 
Tiber,  was  from  Caere,  and  though  the  word  Ceremo- 
nia  is  always  referred  to  the  time  when  the  vestal 
viro-ins  returned  with  the  sacred  fire  from  Caere,  it 
was  more  probably  used,  from  the  very  first,  for  all 
the  Etruscan  rites  which  the  Latins  adopted  from 
this  people.  Tullus  Hostilius,  the  third  king  of 
Rome,  who  always  lived  upon  the  Celian,  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  an  Etruscan  of  the  Caere  colony  ; 
and  it  was  under  him  that  the  three  races  of  Latins, 
Sabines,  and  Luceres,  or  Etruscans,  formed  one 
people.  He  it  was  who  destroyed  Alba  Longa, 
making  Rome,  as  it  were,  independent.  Ancus 
Martins,  the  fourth  king,  established  the  Jus  Cere- 
tium,  giving  particular  rites  and  privileges  to  all 
the  Cerites.  Lucius  Tarquinius  turned  his  conquer- 
ing army  against  them  to  prevent  the  powerful  suc- 
cours he  was  afraid  of  their  giving  to  Veii,  as  Caere 
was  then  counted  the  happiest,  wealthiest,  and  most 
populous  city  in  all  Etruria,  and  affairs  were  accom- 
modated by  a  treaty;  but,  after  the  death  of  Tarqui- 
nius, Caere  joined  the  rest  of  the  league  in  support- 
ing Veii  against  Servius  Tullius,  and  was  obliged  to 


C^RE   OR   AGYLLA. 


385 


purchase  a  peace  of  twenty  years,  by  yielding  a 
part  of  its  lands  to  Rome.  From  this  period  we 
may  date  its  decay,  and  we  know  little  more  of  its 
history  as  a  state  of  independence  and  importance. 
Tarquin  the  Proud  took  refuge  in  Caere  with  his 
two  sons,  after  he  was  driven  out  of  Rome  ;  and  no 
doubt  the  Caere  troops  were  joined  with  Porsenna*s 
in  the  reduction  of  that  proud  city,  and  returned 
home  when  Porsenna  abandoned  Tarquin's  cause  :* 
for  he  never  returned  to  Caere,  and  its  inhabit- 
ants, from  that  time  forward,  seldom  took  any  part 
against  the  Roman  people. 

In  the  year  of  the  Republic  214,  the  Cerites 
joined  the  Carthaginians  in  sending  out  a  fleet 
to  dislodge  the  Phocians  from  Corsica.  It  was 
then  that  they  allowed  or  commanded  all  the  pri- 
soners brought  home  to  be  stoned,  and  to  lie  un- 
buried  at  Pyrgi,  which  occasioning  a  pestilence,  they 
sent  rich  gifts  to  the  oracle  at  Delphi,  and  asked 
what  they  must  do  in  atonement  for  their  sin. 
The  oracle  commanded  yearly  games  and  races  in 
honour  of  the  slain,  and  this  memorial  endured  for 
150  years  at  least,  and  perhaps  for  much  longer. 
Many  authors  confuse  this  expedition  with  that  of 
the  Agyllans,  ages  before,  not  considering  that  they 
were  perfectly  distinct  in  character  and  purpose. 
The  Agyllans  sent  a  treasure  to  Delphi,  the  Cerites 


*  This  expression  is  a  compliance  with  the  opinion  that  Porsenna 
made  war  in  favour  of  the  Tarquins ;  it  is,  however,  more  probable 
that  Porsenna  belonged  to  a  different  political  partj  in  Etruria,  and 
did  not  embrace  their  cause, 

S 


384 


CiERE    OR    AGYLLA. 


this  be  a  poetical  flourish  or  not,  it  has  been  prac- 
tised amongst  the  orientals  from  the  beginning,  as 
the  tombs  in  Egypt  testify. 

The  brightest  days  of  Etruscan  art  occupied  the 
space  between  the  fall  of  Mezentius  and  the  reign  of 
Tullus  Hostilius.  Romulus  took  from  Caere  his  reli- 
gious rites,  and  especially  his  vestal  virgins.  The 
Etruscan  colony  which  was  established  on  the  Mount 
Celian,  when  Romulus  first  came  to  the  banks  of  the 
Tiber,  was  from  Caere,  and  though  the  word  Ceremo- 
nia  is  always  referred  to  the  time  when  the  vestal 
virgins  returned  with  the  sacred  fire  from  Caere,  it 
was  more  probably  used,  from  the  very  first,  for  all 
the  Etruscan  rites  which  the  Latins  adopted  from 
this  people.  Tullus  Hostilius,  the  third  king  of 
Rome,  who  always  lived  upon  the  Celian,  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  an  Etruscan  of  the  Caere  colony  ; 
and  it  was  under  him  that  the  three  races  of  Latins, 
Sabines,  and  Luceres,  or  Etruscans,  formed  one 
people.  He  it  was  who  destroyed  Alba  Longa, 
making  Rome,  as  it  were,  independent.  Ancus 
Martins,  the  fourth  king,  established  the  Jus  Cere- 
tium,  giving  particular  rites  and  privileges  to  all 
the  Cerites.  Lucius  Tarquinius  turned  his  conquer- 
ing army  against  them  to  prevent  the  powerful  suc- 
cours he  was  afraid  of  their  giving  to  Veii,  as  Caere 
was  then  counted  the  happiest,  wealthiest,  and  most 
populous  city  in  all  Etruria,  and  affairs  were  accom- 
modated by  a  treaty  ;  but, after  the  death  of  Tarqui- 
nius, Caere  joined  the  rest  of  the  league  in  support- 
ing Veii  against  Servius  Tullius,  and  was  obliged  to 


CiERE   OR   AGYLLA. 


385 


purchase  a  peace  of  twenty  years,  by  yielding  a 
part  of  its  lands  to  Rome.  From  this  period  we 
may  date  its  decay,  and  we  know  little  more  of  its 
history  as  a  state  of  independence  and  importance. 
Tarquin  the  Proud  took  refuge  in  Caere  with  his 
two  sons,  after  he  was  driven  out  of  Rome  ;  and  no 
doubt  the  Caere  troops  were  joined  with  Porsenna's 
in  the  reduction  of  that  proud  city,  and  returned 
home  when  Porsenna  abandoned  Tarquin's  cause  :* 
for  he  never  returned  to  Caere,  and  its  inhabit- 
ants, from  that  time  forward,  seldom  took  any  part 
against  the  Roman  people. 

In  the  year  of  the  Republic  214,  the  Cerites 
joined  the  Carthaginians  in  sending  out  a  fleet 
to  dislodge  the  Phocians  from  Corsica.  It  was 
then  that  they  allowed  or  commanded  all  the  pri- 
soners brought  home  to  be  stoned,  and  to  lie  un- 
buried  at  Pyrgi,  which  occasioning  a  pestilence,  they 
sent  rich  gifts  to  the  oracle  at  Delphi,  and  asked 
what  they  must  do  in  atonement  for  their  sin. 
The  oracle  commanded  yearly  games  and  races  in 
honour  of  the  slain,  and  this  memorial  endured  for 
150  years  at  least,  and  perhaps  for  much  longer. 
Many  authors  confuse  this  expedition  with  that  of 
the  Agyllans,  ages  before,  not  considering  that  they 
were  perfectly  distinct  in  character  and  purpose. 
The  Agyllans  sent  a  treasure  to  Delphi,  the  Cerites 


*  This  expression  is  a  compliance  with  the  opinion  that  Porsenna 
made  war  in  favour  of  the  Tarquins ;  it  is,  however,  more  probable 
that  Porsenna  belonged  to  a  different  political  party  in  Etruria,  and 
did  not  embrace  their  cause. 

S 


386 


C^RE    OR   AGYLLA. 


expiatory  or  propitiatory  offerings,  and  the  one  is 
never  to  be  confounded  with  the  other.  In  the  year 
A.  R.  365,  when  the  Gauls  besieged  Rome,  and  threat- 
ened to  overwhelm  and  ruin  the  whole  of  Italy,  the 
vestal  virgins  and  the  sacred  fire  were  sent  to  Caere. 
We  are  told  that  one  Albinus,  a  plebeian,  who  was 
fleeing  away,  and  was  in  his  chariot  with  his  wife  and 
children,  met  them  barefooted  and  bleeding,  convey- 
ing the  Palladium  and  the  holy  vessels,  on  the 
Mount  Janiculum,  now  Montorio,  and  that  he  im- 
mediately stopped  and  alighted,  declaring  that  he 
would  not  ride  whilst  the  ministers  of  the  gods 
walked.  He  made  the  vestal  virgins  take  the  place 
of  his  own  family  in  his  chariot,  and  conducted  them 
safely  to  Caere,  were  they  were  received  and  enter- 
tained with  the  utmost  honour  until  they  could  re- 
turn to  their  own  city.  Strabo  moreover  says,  that 
the  Cerites  attacked  the  Gauls  in  their  retreat,  and 
took  from  them  all  the  spoil  which  they  were 
bearing  away,  and  which  they  immediately,  in  like 
manner,  restored  to  the  Romans.  The  senate,  in 
gratitude,  called  all  their  sacred  rites  henceforward 
Ceremonia,  and  from  this  comes  the  word  Ceremony. 
They  henceforward  obliged  themselves  never  to  re- 
fuse hospitality  to  the  Cerites,  and  gave  them  all  the 
rights  of  citizenship,  except  a  vote  amongst  the 
tribes.  Nevertheless  they  are  often  taunted  with 
not  having  shown  sufficient  gratitude  for  the  bene- 
fits they  received,  as  the  citizenship  of  the  Cerites 
used  to  be  a  mock- word  among  the  Romans  in  after 
times. 


#♦  • 


CJERE   OR   AGYLLA. 


387 


In  the  year  a.  r.  402,  according  to  Livy,  Caere 
joined  Tarquinia  in  a  war  against  Rome,  and  ravaged 
the  Roman  lands  down  to  the  coast,  carrying  all  the 
booty  into  Caere.  These  lands  had  once  all  belonged 
to  Etruria,  but  Manlius  was  created  dictator  to 
recover  them ;  upon  which  the  Cerites,  becoming 
frightened,  endeavoured  to  make  a  separate  peace, 
throwing  all  the  blame  upon  the  Tarquinians,  and 
reminding  their  adversaries  of  their  meritorious 
conduct  during  the  Gallic  war.  The  Romans  lis- 
tened to  their  prayers,  and  granted  them  a  peace 
for  a  hundred  years. 

In  the  year  444,  Livy  places  the  great  battle 
which  took  place  between  the  Etruscans  and  the 
Romans  under  the  consul  M.  Fabius,  when  the 
former  took  refuge  in  the  Ciminian  Forest,  a  large 
and  thick  wood  close  to  Viterbo ;  and  Fabius,  in 
order  to  discover  their  designs,  sent  amongst  them 
a  noble  Roman  who  understood  their  language, 
having  been  educated  at  Caere,  and  this  town  seems 
to  have  contained  a  university  for  the  Roman  youth, 
who,  until  the  second  century  of  the  Republic,  were 
,  sent  here  to  study  Etruscan  as  we  study  French  or 
Latin,  and  many  of  whom  continued  to  be  instructed 
in  Etruscan  down  to  Cicero's  time.  I  suspect  in- 
deed that  Romulus's  tongue  as  nearly  resembled 
Etruscan  as  that  of  Henry  the  First's  court  did  Pa- 
risian, or  of  Harold's  German,  though  in  the  days 
of  the  empire  the  people  had  ceased  to  understand 
each  other,  and  the  old  Latin  was  as  unintelligible 
to  Augustus,  as  the  English  of  Alfred  would  be  to  us. 

s2 


4 


388 


CJERE   OR    AGYLLA. 


CJERE   OR    AGYLLA. 


389 


At  the  time  when  Mso,  or  whatever  his  name  might 
be, made  his  expedition  into  the  Ciminian  Forest,  the 
Cerites  used  to  study  Latin,  and  serve  as  interpre- 
ters between  the  Romans  and  the  other  Etruscans. 
This  is  particularly  noticed  in  the  adventure  of  those 
Romans  who  were  found  disguised  as  shepherds  in 
the  fields  of  Russella.  Canina  thinks  that  the 
Agyllans  spoke  more  Greek  than  Etruscan,  and 
the  Cerites  more  Etruscan  than  Greek,  and  that  as 
the  Romans  became  more  and  more  powerful,  their 
native  tongue  merged  at  last  into  Latin.  I  had 
almost  forgotten  to  mention  that  it  is  no  uncommon 
thing  in  the  sepulchres  of  Caere  to  find  Romans  laid 
in  the  same  grave  with  a  long  line  of  Etruscans, 
very  possibly  their  own  ancestors  in  a  former  age. 

In  the  year  of  Rome  535,  Livy  tells  us  that  the 
waters  of  Caere  ran  with  blood.  These  waters  are 
a  warm  spring  which  used  to  serve  the  ancient 
baths,  and  which  still  exist  about  a  mile  from  Cer- 
vetri.     They  are  called  Bagni  del  Sasso. 

In  the  year  547,  the  Cerites  victualled  the  fleet 
of  Scipio  with  corn  and  all  other  articles  of  food, 
after  which  Pyrgi  seems  to  have  gradually  dwindled 
away,  and  Caere  to  have  sunk  into  a  provincial  town. 
The  destruction  of  Carthage  must  have  given  a 
deadly  blow  to  the  trade  of  Pyrgi,  and  the  Romans 
had  the  command  of  so  many  other  ports,  that  they 
had  no  occasion  to  keep  up  this  one,  or  to  prevent 
its  decay.  It  was  a  place  of  no  importance  in 
Strabo's  time,  and  he  says  that  Caere,  once  so  wealthy 
and  so  renowned,  presented  nothing  but  a  few  melan- 


^ 


\ 


choly  ruins  as  the  vestiges  of  its  former  greatness, 
and  was  frequented  only  by  invalids  for  the  sake  of 
its  baths.     In  Augustus's  time,    however,   it   rose 
again,  and  was  a  favourite  foster-child  of  many  of 
the  emperors ;  but  we  will  not  discuss  its  history 
further.     We  cared  as  little  for  its  modern  history — I 
mean  its  fate  for  the  last  1800    years  merged    in 
another  power — as  we  did  about  its  Roman  sarco- 
phagi.    We  had  come  to  see  an  Etruscan  city,  and 
to  hear  as  much  as  we  could  of  an  Etruscan  story, 
and  we  felt  almost  vexed  when  anything  Roman 
crossed  our  path.     It  was  like  the  impress  of  sub- 
jection, when  we  wanted  to  investigate  only  the 
footsteps    of  freedom   and   independence.      Many 
monuments  and  inscriptions  of  imperial  times  have 
been  found,  and  from  one  of  them,  that  of  Visbinus, 
the  freedman  of  Trajan,  we  learn  that  Caere  in  his 
days  was  a  municipium,  and  contained  within  its  walls 
one  temple  dedicated  to  Mars,  and  one  to  the  Divi 
Caesaris,  besides  a    Basilica  Sulpiciani— that   is,  a 
court-house  ;  and  a  curia — that  is,  a  market-place  or 
square  for  the  assembly  of  the  Decemvirs. 

Caere  bore  its  part  in  the  decay  of  the  Roman 
empire  until  it  became,  like  so  many  other  famous 
places,  almost  forgotten  ;  and  a  small  Roman  village, 
at  first  a  garrison,  and  then  a  settlement,  sprang  up 
near  it,  and  usurped  its  very  name.  Why  Caere  Nova 
came  to  be  preferred  to  the  old  town  we  do  not 
know,  unless  the  sight  of  modern  poverty  and  decay 
became  intolerable  in  the  midst  of  ruined  splendour, 
and  a  totally  new  place  with  hope  was  found  more 


390 


C^RE   OR    AGYLLA. 


I 


congenial  than  an  old  one  with  sorrow.  Little  no- 
tice of  it  exists  in  history,  but  in  a.  d.  1236,  we  find 
Gregory  IX.  issuing  a  bull  in  favour  of  the  episco- 
pus  portuensis,  or  bishop  of  the  ports,  in  which  he 
calls  the  walled  village  we  were  visiting  Caere  Ve- 
tere,  i.  e.  Old  Caere,  and  the  village  two  or  three 
miles  distant,  Caere  Nova,  or  New  Caere. 

My  gentle  reader,  if  you  have  been  able  to  wade 
through  this  history,  you  will  probably  now  be 
tired  both  of  it  and  your  long  walk,  and  you  will 
wish  to  refresh  yourself  as  we  did,  and  perhaps 
ask  what  we  had  for  dinner.  Truly  I  am  very 
sorry  that  I  cannot  tell  you,  for  our  wits  were  all  put 
to  flight  by  our  excessive  surprise  at  such  unex- 
pected and  unpremeditated  hospitality  as  a  dinner, 
laid  out  for  uninvited  strangers  in  the  house  of  a 
Roman  Catholic  priest.  We  were  all  perplexed, 
and  truly  sorry  to  have  caused  so  much  trouble  to 
a  man  who  lives  alone,  who  fasts  twice  in  the  week, 
and  who  expected  nothing  less,  when  he  rose  in 
the  morning,  than  to  have  his  time  taken  up,  and 
his  kitchen  emptied,  by  a  party  of  hungry  and  in- 
quisitive foreigners,  tumbling  in  upon  him  just  as 
he  was  sitting  down  to  his  meridiano.  The  fact  is, 
that  we  had  taken  our  own  provisions  with  us,  as 
every  stranger  must  needs  do,  and  we  had  ex- 
pected leave  to  eat  them  in  the  kind  Arciprete's 
parlour,  but  in  the  bounteousness  of  his  heart  he 
had  ordered  them  all  to  be  put  away,  and  a  hot 
dinner  from  his  own  store  to  be  prepared  for  us. 
I  can  just  tell  you  so  much  of  the  matter,  that  it 


CMRE   OR   AGYLLA. 


391 


\ 


consisted,  like  all  Italian  dinners  which  are  not 
a  TAnglaise,  of  five  courses,  with  a  prelude  of  ancho- 
vies and  olives,  and  a  finale  of  biscuits  and  fruit. 
We  had  soup,  then  lesso,  that  is  boiled  beef;  then 
arrosto,  or  something  roasted  ;  umido,  or  something 
boiled ;  fritata,  or  something  fried ;  and  dolce,  or 
something  sweet.  After  our  repast  was  finished, 
we  went  to  see  an  enormous  wine-vessel  in  the 
Arciprete's  garden,  which  had  just  been  taken 
from  a  tomb.  It  stood  fully  four  feet  high,  and 
could  not  have  contained  less  than  five  and  thirty 

gallons. 

I  scarcely  know  how  to  advise  any  one  to  proceed 
who  wishes  to  explore  Caere,  and  who  has  not  letters 
either  to  this  excellent  man,    or    to    the  rich  and 
equally  hospitable  Calabrese,  who  behaved  to  some 
friends  of  ours  in  the  same  liberal  manner.     It  is 
certainly  not  to  be  expected  that  their  time  should 
be  occupied,  and  their  arrangements  broken  in  upon 
by  travellers,  and  the  English  are  the  last  nation  in 
the  world  who  would  wish  or  like  such  a  thing; 
but  there  is  no  inn,  and  therefore  a  resting-place 
should  be  provided  for  in  some  way  or  other ;  for  no 
one  can  do  the  place  justice  who  does  not  spend 
there,  from  morning  to  evening  of  a  long  summer's 
day,    perhaps  about   sixteen    hours.      Caere   Nova 
should  be  seen  also,  for  it  is  very  pretty,  and  several 
curious  tombs,  and  some  rare  and  strange  things, 
are  remaining   there.     It   is   possible   that  Prince 
Ruspoli  might  allow   any  party  properly    recom- 
mended  to  him,  the  use  of  his   palazzo,  as  it  is  a 


( 


392 


C^R  E   OR    AGYLLA. 


common  practice  in  Italy  for  the  great  families  to 
permit   the   halls  of  their    unoccupied    residences 
to  entertain  strangers;  but  as  the  Duke  Torlonia 
has  a  large  empty  mansion  at  Caere  Nova,  which 
he  will  not  suffer  to  be  entered  for  any  such  pur- 
pose, it  is  also  possible  that  there  may  be  particular 
reasons  for  refusing  it  in  this  part  of  the  country. 
To  the  credit  of  my  countrymen  be  it  spoken,  we 
never  heard  of  any  of  these  permissions,  where  they 
were  granted,  being  abused.     I   trust   they    never 
will  allow  it  to  be  said  of  them  that  they  have  in 
any  instance  presumed  upon   or  ridiculed    Italian 
hospitality,   and   returned  evil   for  good.     It   was 
always  a   pride   to  us   in    Rome   to   observe   how 
universally  the  English  were  respected  and  trusted 
for  honourable   conduct.     Proud   and  impertinent 
they  were,  often  equally  ignorant  and  careless  of 
national  customs  and  prejudices,  and   we  used   to 
hear  remarked  of  them  as  a  mass,  that  they  came 
to  teach  and  to  judge,  but  never  to  inquire  or  to 
learn ;  but  their  truth,  honesty,  and  honour  never 
seemed  to  be  questioned. 

The  best  time  for  touring  to  all  out-of-the-way 
places  in  Italy  is  in  the  month  of  October,  as  the 
malaria  is  then  over,  and  the  days  are  neither  too 
short  nor  too  hot.  The  so-called  roads  are  more 
passable,  and  the  weather  is  more  steady,  than  in 
the  spring.  Caere  in  ancient  days  was  celebrated 
for  its  wool,  which  bore  the  highest  price  in  the 
Roman  market,  and  was  much  esteemed  for  civil 
and  military  dresses.     I  believe  it  still  keeps  up  its 


CJERE   OR   AGYLLA. 


393 


reputation ;  and  its  wine,  sung  by  Martial,  though 
small  in  quantity,  is  still  excellent  in  quality,  if  we 
may  judge  from  the  sample  we  had  of  the  Arci- 
prete's.  The  place  must  also  have  been  famous  for 
its  chemical  preparation  of  perfumes,  unless  those 
we  saw  from  the  tombs  were  foreign,  for  stronger 
have  never  been  found  anywhere. 

When  we  left  Rome,  we  were  told  to  take  torches 
or  bougies  with  us,  and  to  have  them  always  at  hand 
whenever  we  went  to  explore  a  tomb ;  and  we  never 
went  anywhere  without  having  reason  to  admire 
the  wisdom  of  this  advice,  which  I  therefore  repeat 

to  travellers. 

Caere  Vetere  is  a  very  sweet  spot,  and  the  interest 
of  visiting  it  is  not  diminished  by  its  access  being 
somewhat  difficult;  besides  that,  it  is  the  oldest 
civilized  colony  in  Italy  of  which  we  have  any  re- 
cord, and  the  only  one  much  known  and  esteemed 
by  the  Greeks  before  the  foundation  of  Rome. 
They  had,  indeed,  traditions  of  others,  such  as 
Corytus,  Tarquinia,  Pisa,  and  Adria,  but  they  had 
little  commerce  with  any  of  them  in  comparison 
with  Caere.  Prince  Ruspoli  is  the  manorial  lord 
of  Caere  Vetere,  and  Duke  Torlonia  of  Caere  Nova. 


8  5 


1 


) 


394 


CHAPTER  VII. 


CASTEL    DASSO. 


We  went  for  the  night  to  a  very  comfortable  and 
well-provided  inn  at  Viterbo,  and  we  spent  the 
hours  before  evening  fell,  in  visiting  its  three  fine 
churches,  with  their  excellent  paintings ;  parti- 
cularly the  least  rich  in  other  ornaments  of  the 
trio,  but  which  was  immediately  behind  the  hotel, 
and  contained  one  of  the  best  pictures  in  Italy;  a 
"  Sebastian  del  Piombo,"  representing  our  dead 
Saviour  after  his  deposition  from  the  cross.  It  is  a 
work  of  the  very  highest  merit  and  purest  style  of 
composition,  and  is  well  suited  to  the  peculiar 
colouring  of  Sebastiano ;  we  saw  it  both  by  day- 
light and  by  torchlight,  and  I  think  preferred  the 
latter.  Viterbo  would  well  repay  a  residence  of  two 
days — the  one  to  see  the  vicinity,  and  the  other  it- 
self, and  the  numerous  works  of  art  and  science  it 
possesses,  which  are  seldom  visited,  and  very  little 

10 


v\ 


CASTEL    DASSO. 


395 


known  to  English  travellers.  There  is  also  a  noble 
castle,  with  an  octagon  tower,  belonging  to  the  king 
of  Naples,  which  should  be  visited  from  Viterbo  on 
the  way  to  Rome. 

The  next  morning  we  hired  the  best  light  carri- 
tella  we  could  get,  a  quattro  posti,  with  four  places, 
and  set  off  very  early,  under  the  conduct  of  a  guide, 
to  see  the  ruins  of  Castel  d'Asso.  I  was  in  a  fever 
until  we  had  made  this  out,  always  fearful  to  the 
last  moment  that  some  accident  would  occur  to  pre- 
vent the  great  pleasure  we  anticipated.  We  had 
known  many  who  had  set  off  to  visit  it,  and  then 
had  found  some  unexpected  impossibility,  which 
had  obliged  them  to  abandon  their  object,  so  that 
we  had  a  sort  of  presentiment  that  the  same  thing 
might  happen  to  ourselves,  and  that  we  should  never 
see  it :  the  more  so,  perhaps,  that  we  had  heard 
such  wonderful  descriptions  of  it  from  the  fortunate 
few  who  had  been  there,  and  we  had  read  these 
descriptions  fully  confirmed  in  the  Archaeological 
Papers,  so  that  I  verily  believe,  in  the  end,  we 
would  rather  have  lionized  this  extraordinary  valley 
than  anything  in  Italy  besides, — Rome  always  ex- 
cepted. We  were  told  that  there  was  nothing 
known  in  the  world  like  it,  except  the  valley  of  the 
Kings,  called  "  Biban  el  Melek,"  in  Egypt,  a  place 
far  beyond  our  sphere  of  travel ;  and  that  it  con- 
sisted of  four  valleys,  all  of  them  full  of  rock  sepul- 
chres. One  only  of  these,  however,  was  the  valley 
resembling  Biban  el  Melek,  composed  of  the  graves 
of  chiefs,  and  it  was  difficult  to  find,  and  often  mis- 


T.age 


rK 


396 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


taken,  as  all  the  four  join,  running  as  it  were  into 
each  other,  and  many  of  the  peasants  offer  them- 
selves as  guides,  who  are  quite  ignorant  of  the 
right  one,  and  will  therefore  take  you  to  what  is 
little  worth  looking  at.  We  were  desired  to  in- 
sist upon  being  conducted  to  San  Giovanni  di 
Bieda.  It  is,  as  we  were  told,  an  oratory  in  the 
chief  valley,  and  has  an  annual  fair.  Who  shall 
express  with  what  joy  we  entered  the  carritella, 
passed  the  gates  of  Viterbo,  and  gave  these  orders 
to  our  guide  ? 

Sir  William  Gell  thus  speaks  of  Castel  d'Asso 
and  the  glens  adjoining :  *'  Near  Ronciglione  and 
Sutri  stands  Blera  or  Bieda,  a  town  of  ancient 
Etruria.  The  population  is  still  considerable,  and 
there  are  several  remains  of  antiquity,  consisting 
chiefly  of  tombs  cut  in  the  rock  and  walls.  At 
San  Giovanni  di  Bieda,  on  the  road  between 
Vetralla  and  Viterbo,  are  several  sepulchres  in  the 
rock,  with  mouldings  of  genuine  Etruscan  architec- 
ture ;  a  stream  running  from  Blera  has  here  worn 
in  the  soft  volcanic  stone  a  deep  valley  with  rocky 
sides. 

^  The  Etruscans  delighted  in  tombs  excavated  in 
such  situations,  and  those  in  this  valley  are  both  ex- 
traordinary and  numerous.  The  stream  unites  with 
another  from  near  Viterbo,  which,  like  the  former, 
presents  on  its  banks,  at  Castel  d'Asso,  a  series  of 
tombs,  and  also  inscriptions,  which  can  only  be 
compared  with  those  in  the  valley  of  the  tombs  of 
the  Kings,  Biban  el  Melek,  near  Thebes.     Another 


^ 


f 


Tr?///js  ///  f'/zs/r/  '/  '-/s. 


w 


I!""  //V//  ///  S 


O^-^fif*   g^eif^ 


>'    > 


\ 


;) 


•# 


f 


\\ 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


397 


joins  this  from  Norcia,  a  curious  and  interesting 
city,  and  in  this  valley  is  a  Doric  tomb,  with  paint- 
ing and  sculpture ;  the  Grotta  del  Cardinale  is 
another  of  these  curious  tombs.  They  are  painted 
like  those  of  the  tumuli  of  Tarquinia,  and  are  as 
yet  unknown  to  the  antiquarians  and  literati  of 
Europe.'' 

I  have  thought  it  right  to  give  this  account, 
though,  unless  Sir  William  Gell  saw  these  tombs 
himself,  I  greatly  doubt  its  accuracy.  I  cannot, 
however,  say  that  there  are  not  painted  tombs  in 
these  valleys,  because  we  only  fully  explored  one  of 
them,  and  part  of  another ;  but  I  suspect  that  the 
account  is  given  from  the  relation  of  others,  and 
that  it  has  been  a  misconception. 

Again,  he  says,  "  The  Etruscans  entombed  their 
magnates  at  Falerii,  Fescennium,  Norchia,  Nepete, 
and  Blera,  in  the  rocky  dells  common  in  their  terri- 
tory. It  is  highly  probable,  in  the  absence  of  all 
positive  history,  that  the  necropolis  of  Voltumna 
(Viterbo)  was  reputed  of  superior  sanctity,  and  that 
many  persons  of  rank  selected  this  spot  for  sepul- 
ture. We  have  named  the  extraordinary  assem- 
blage of  Etruscan  tombs  at  Castel  d'Asso,  near 
Viterbo,  which  were  first  introduced  to  public 
notice  by  the  learned  Orioli  of  Bologna,  who  wrote 
a  short  account  of  them.  By  the  ancient  road 
through  Forum  Cassii,  they  are  fifty-three  miles 
from  Rome.  The  face  of  the  rock  is  cut  into  a 
form  unlike  anything  Grecian  or  Italian,  and  pro- 
duces a  most  imposing  efi^ect ;  the  style  bears  some 


.( 


398 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


resemblance  to  the  Egyptian,  but  it  wants  one  re- 
markable characteristic,  that  of  a  very  projecting 
cornice  on  the  summit.  The  profiles  of  these  tombs 
are  very  singular,  and  perhaps  the  four  given  below, 
which  were  brought  some  time  ago  from  this  place, 
are  the  only  specimens  of  real  Etruscan  mouldings 
that  have  ever  been  seen  in  our  country.*' 

We  had  met  in  Rome  and  elsewhere  a  very  few 
persons  who  had  seen  Castel  d'Asso,  and  said  they 
were  disappointed ;  but  we  always  thought  we  knew 
the  reason,  viz.  that  they  had  had  bad  guides,  and 
therefore  their  opinions  made  no  impression  upon 
us ;  once  only  we  were  staggered  by  a  friend  of  our 
own,  a  very  well-informed  and  intelligent  English- 
man, who  had  taken  some  pains  to  see  it  thoroughly 
from  Viterbo,  and  who  said  he  really  did  not  think 
it  would  repay  any  one  for  the  trouble  it  cost. — 
His  speech  remained  in  our  minds  as  a  problem  to 
be  solved,  a  thing  to  be  wondered  at  and  remem- 
bered, but  which  perhaps  might  be  accounted  for 
from  a  difference  of  tastes ;  and  this  we  thought 
the  rather,  because  the  more  we  inquired  from  those 
whose  antiquarian  knowledge  and  accuracy  we 
could  trust,  the  more  strongly  and  plainly  it  ap- 
peared, that  there  was  nothing  in  Europe,  besides, 
of  the  same  kind,  and  we  resolved  upon  seeing  it  at 
all  hazards,  if  we  could. 

I  understood  that  it  had  been  explored  and  brought 
into  notice  by  the  learned  professor  Orioli  and  Mon- 
signore  Marini,  about  five  and  twenty  years  since, 
and  that  they  had  written  a  full  description   of  it ; 


\, 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


399 


but  it  was  never  my  good  fortune  to  meet  with 
these  works.  I  also  understood  that  here,  and  here 
only,  the  caverns  were  sculptured ;  but  besides  that, 
this  is  not  true  as  to  its  being  the  only  site  in 
Etruria  of  sculptured  caverns,  for  we  have  already 
named  the  one  described  by  Micali  at  Tarquinia, 
and  the  temples  of  Cerere  or  Iside,  as  seen  by  our- 
selves, I  never  met  with  any  one  who  professed  to 
have  discovered  or  to  have  seen  any  sculptures  at 
Castel  d'Asso  beyond  the  Egyptian  ornaments  over 
the  tomb  doors. 

The  great  interest  of  this  spot  arises  from  its 
having  been  the  ancient  Voltumna,  the  grand 
gathering  place  of  all  the  Etruscan  tribes,  where 
the  national  councils  were  held  from  the  time  of 
their  first  establishment  in  central  Italy ;  frequented 
on  every  great  occasion  by  the  assembled  nobles  and 
their  trains,  by  the  rulers  of  each  separate  state, 
and  by  the  priests  with  all  the  pomp  of  their  gor- 
geous and  awful  worship.  There  the  national 
chief,  or  dictator,  was  elected ;  hence  laws  were 
promulgated,  and  peace  and  war  declared,  not  by 
one  state  only,  but  by  all  Etruria,  collected  for  her 
own  internal  government,  or  for  defence  against 
her  foes  ;  there  all  those  solemn  councils  were  held 
which  required  the  highest  religious  sanctions,  and 
the  universal  national  consent — a  plan  of  govern- 
ment under  which  the  nation  increased  and  flou- 
rished for  six  centuries,  until  about  fifty  years  before 
the  building  of  Rome.  After  this  time,  and  for 
reasons  of  which  no  records  now  exist,  dispute,  dis- 


400 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


union,  and  decay  seem  to  have  taken  the  place  of 
former  concord  and  prosperity.  The  arts  flourished 
and  became  more  refined,  and  the  arms  of  the 
several  states  prospered,  but  the  union  of  the  nation 
was  dissolved,  and  therefore  her  real  strength  was 
gone.  Cyrus's  fable  of  the  bundle  of  sticks  was 
fully  exemplified  in  this  people. 

At  the  head  of  the  glen  is  supposed  to  have  stood 
the  great   temple    in    the    precincts   of  which   the 
council  assembled,   and  within   which  the   sacrifices 
were   made ;    and   in  its  immediate  vicinity    were 
the  rocks  dedicated  to   be  the  sepulchres  of  those 
whom  Etruria  honoured  and  mourned — the    hi£:h 
captains  of  the  league,  the  high  priests,  the  distin- 
guished patriots,   noted  orators,    dreaded    warriors, 
or  beloved    and  wise    kings;    those,    in    short,    to 
whom  the  whole  nation    gave    a    grateful    burial, 
and    for    whom    they    wept.     I  think,    if   I  only 
saw  a  row  of  broken  stones,  or  a  line    of   upright 
posts,  each  of  which  marked  the  long  narrow   home 
of  some  eminently  great  man,  whose  death  had  oc- 
casioned tears  to  a  whole  people,  and  whose  deeds 
were  written,  not  in  the  book  of  eternity  only,  but 
which  had  also  filled  a  page  in  the  restricted  and 
abbreviated  annals  of  time,  I  could  not  have  looked 
upon  it  unmoved — I  must  have  felt  interest  and  re- 
verence.    How  much  more,  then,  when  these  sepul- 
chres have  been  hewn  to  last  as  long  as  the  valleys 
that  contain  them,  and   the  names,  and  the  years, 
and  the  offices  of  their  tenants,  are  graven  in   the 
rock  with  a  pen  of  steel,  to  last  as  a  memorial  for 


CASTEL   D  ASSO. 


401 


> . 


11 


ever !  I  did  not  doubt,  when  we  were  on  the  way 
to  Castel  d'Asso,  that  we  were  going  to  a  rich  treat, 
and  should  enjoy  a  feast  for  excitement,  enthusiasm, 
and  romance,  even  to  satiety. 

For  the  first  two  miles  the  road  was  so  good  that 
we  were  angry  at  having  been  induced  to  engage 
the  rumbling  and  uncomfortable  carritella,  and  we 
thought  we  might  as  well  have  driven  in  our  own 
carriage;  but  just  as  we  had  hinted  something  of 
the  sort  to  our  guide,  we  turned  off  the  country 
thoroughfare,  which  led  straight  on  to  some  unpro- 
nounceable village,  and  we  went  for  a  few  hundred 
yards  over  the  grass.  We  then  came  to  a  mill-race 
and  a  full  stop,  and  what  we  were  to  do  further  we 
did  not  know.  The  race  was  raised  several  feet 
exactly  above  a  broken  wretched  country  track, 
into  which  we  were  to  plunge,  and  which  was  ap- 
parently made  by  the  treading  of  cattle,  or  the 
dragging  along  of  ploughs  and  harrows,  aided  by 
the  not  unfrequent  overflowings  of  the  stream,  which 
wanders  at  random  wherever  not  previously  en- 
gaged to  feed  the  mill.  We  had  to  dismount,  and 
by  the  help  of  poles  and  peasants  to  pass  the  race  ; 
next  the  horse  was  to  be  coaxed  to  a  species  of  all- 
four  scramble  ;  and  last  of  all,  the  vehicle  was  lifted, 
and  dragged,  and  pushed,  and  tumbled,  I  know 
not  how,  until  it  fairly  stood  in  the  holes  of  the 
track  which  we  had  hired  it  to  pursue,  but  where, 
to  all  appearance,  it  was  fully  resolved  to  remain 
quiet  and  at  rest.  I  now  saw  that  we  could  never 
have  brought  any  English  carriage  along  this  road. 


402 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


unless  we  had  intended  it  to  take  care  of  the  mill 
till  our  return,  and  we  amused  ourselves  with 
imagining  the  astonishment  it  might  have  excited 
amongst  a  party  of  native  sight-seers  or  wonder- 
hunters,  had  any  such  arrived  in  scrambling  trim, 
as  to  how  it  came  there,  why  it  remained  there,  and 
to  what  nation  it  could  belong.  It  would  indeed 
have  been  the  type  of  a  people  ignorant  and  bold, 
and  not  an  unapt  remembrancer  of  the  Gallic  in- 
vaders, who,  between  two  and  three  thousand  years 
ago,  had  their  war-chariots  planted,  probably,  on 
that  very  spot.  The  mill  had  once  been  a  square 
tower,  very  likely  some  old  lucumo's  dormitory 
transmogrified,  but  it  is  now  quite  abandoned,  and 
in  due  time  will  be  a  ruin  to  baffle  future  antiqua- 
rians. 

We  proceeded  in  the  track,  being  very  often 
lifted  so  high  from  our  seats  by  the  jolts,  that  I 
more  than  once  expected  to  be  tossed  out  upon 
the  ground  ;  sometimes  we  went  over  portions  of 
rock,  then  through  holes  out  of  which  rocks  had 
been  taken,  then  over  furze  bushes,  and  then 
through  water  sometimes  shallow,  but  more  than 
once  up  to  the  horse's  knees,  and  nearly  over  our 
own  feet.  At  last  we  got  upon  a  heath,  where  the 
ground  was  firm,  but  where,  as  far  as  I  remember, 
there  was  no  track  at  all.  We  were  in  a  very  fine 
open  country,  a  plain  or  moor,  with  mountains  at 
some  distance  on  each  side  of  us,  when  suddenly  we 
came  upon  a  steep  and  most  romantic  ravine,  con- 
sisting of  bold  rocks  covered  with  wood,  dropping 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


403 


down  perhaps  200  feet  beneath  us,  with  a  wide  and 
rapid  brook  in  the  bottom,  and  on  the  cliff  directly 
opposite  rose  the  picturesque  and  massive  ruins  of 
a  gothic  castle,  very  like  those  of  Germany,  and 
belonging  to  the  era  of  the  feudal  barons,  and  the 
time  when  German  imperial  troops,  under  the 
German  emperors  of  Rome,  garrisoned  this  part  of 
Italy.  The  vision  was  so  unexpected,  that  we  could 
not  for  the  moment  help  fancying  that  we  were  in 
Scotland,  looking  upon  Roslin  or  some  other  of 
those  many  beautiful  castles  which  are  hid  in  the 
Scottish  glens.  Perhaps  the  nearest  resemblance 
to  it  is  the  glen  of  Cadzow  in  Lanarkshire,  opposite 
the  castle  of  king  David,  or  that  of  Craig  near 
Rhynie  in  Aberdeenshire.  I  stood  fixed  to  the 
spot,  for  I  never  saw  anything  so  un-Italian 
in  Italy,  and  it  appeared  to  me  that  nothing  but 
the  sky  was  its  own.  Not  a  shepherd's  hut  was  in 
sight,  not  a  contadino  in  velveteen  jacket  and 
breeches,  with  red  waistcoat,  bronze  face,  and  rich 
black  eyes,  was  to  be  seen;  not  a  thing  that 
breathed  or  told  of  the  south,  whilst  the  wide  and 
shallow,  the  clear  and  brawling  brook,  the  green 
trees,  the  oak,  the  aspen,  and  the  alder ;  the  abrupt 
steep  rocks,  the  round  towered  castle,  and  even 
the  smooth  greensward  on  which  we  rested,  all 
seemed  to  belong  to  Scotland.  Did  we  want  further 
confirmation,  look  at  the  heather  in  blossom,  and 
look  at  the  mountains  around.  Did  we  want  con- 
tradiction ?     Alas  !  look  at  the  sky. 

Delighted,  however,  at  this  beginning,  we  halted 


-■'■■*!.   . 


40  i 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


to  gaze  upon  the  fortress  before  proceeding  further, 
and  spread  a  table  of  provisions  for  ourselves  in 
this  lovely  wilderness,  perhaps  upon  the  very  spot 
where  stately  buildings  once  stood,  and  the  nobles 
of  Etruria  may  have  held  their  yearly  feasts  cen- 
turies before  us.  Castel  d'Asso  was  an  Etruscan 
fortress,  erected  in  the  midst  of  this  once  densely 
populated  country,  near  Monte  Fiascone  and  Trosso, 
and  not  very  many  miles  from  Tuscan ia.  It  was 
situated  in  the  state  of  Tarquinia,  and  served  as  a 
place  of  refuge  for  the  inhabitants  upon  any  sudden 
invasion  from  their  enemies.  Cicero  mentions  it 
by  name,  "  Castellum  Axia,"  as  a  place  of  great 
strength  and  importance  in  his  day.  It  was  then 
regularly  garrisoned,  and  probably  by  Etruscans 
under  Roman  rule.  There  were  four  other  forts 
in  its  vicinity  which  have  all  been  destroyed,  whilst 
this  has  passed  from  conqueror  to  conqueror  through 
the  lapse  of  ages,  always  maintaining  its  original 
destination,  and  going  from  Goths,  and  Huns,  and 
other  barbarians,  to  Italians  and  Germans,  ac- 
cording as  each  could  maintain  the  upper  hand. 
The  present  structure  is  a  fortress  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  but  it  stands  upon  Etruscan  foundations, 
and  gave  me  the  idea  of  having;  been  once  much 
larger  than  it  is  at  present.  We  did  not  climb  up 
to  it  for  want  of  time,  but  I  have  no  hesitation  in 
saying,  from  the  few  observations  which  we  after- 
wards made,  that  it  would  well  repay  the  trouble. 
It  is  ungarrisoned,  and  indeed  I  believe  untenanted 
now,  and  there  are  no  cottages  near  it,  which  I 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


405 


repeatedly  turned  to  look  for,  as  it  gives  one  the 
idea  that  it  must  have  protected  some  little  hamlet 
to  supply  the  servants,  and  other  necessary  aids 
and  appliances  of  an  established  garrison  in  a  wild 
country.  I  presume  that  lines  were  drawn  round 
it  on  the  opposite  side,  but  we  did  not  visit  them. 
We  remained  for  some  time  in  earnest  contem- 
plation of  this  fair  and  unexpected  apparition,  and 
we  were  very  sorry  to  leave  it,  as  we  had  to  dive 
down  into  the  glen,  and  believed  that  we  should 
only  see  it  once  again  as  we  crossed  the  elevated 
heath  on  our  return  :  we  were,  however,  agreeably 
mistaken. 

Upon  turning  away  to  commence  our  expedition, 
we  tethered  the  horse,  and  left  the  carritella  and  pro- 
visions with  one  guide,  whilst  we  took  another  to 
lead  us  into  the  much-wished-for  and  long-desired 
glen.  We  scrambled  for  some  hundred  yards  through 
rocks  and  brushwood,  and  along  such  paths  as  are 
constantly  found  in  wild  woods,  and  we  descended 
for  some  way  into  the  little  sequestered  valley,  and 
were  still  going  on  in  a  most  courageous  spirit 
when  our  guide  called  us  with  a  loud  voice  to  stop. 
"  Ecco,"  he  said,  "  look  there,  those  are  the  graves." 
"  Those !"  we  exclaimed,  "  where  ?"  "  Just  above 
you,  signori,  and  before  you,  and  for  a  mile  along 
those  rocks,  they  are  all  the  same."  We  saw  nothing, 
absolutely  nothing  but  a  continued  cliff  of  wooded 
rocks,  and  we  asked  with  uncontrollable  disappoint- 
ment, "  Is  this  all  ?"  "  Yes,"  said  the  man,  with  a 
most  provoking  look  of  superior  wisdom  and  half- 


406 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


suppressed  amusement, "  this  is  all ;  many  travellers 
come  here,  and  say  that  there  is  nothing  to  see,  but 
there  is  always  the  fortress.  Will  you  please  to 
cross  over  and  look  at  it  V*  No,  indeed,  we  were 
far  too  sublime,  after  the  humbug  of  the  glen,  to 
think  of  going  to  examine  an  old  castle.  We  told 
our  guide  that  we  could  see  far  better  castles  in 
Britain.  We  cast  one  sullen,  despairing  glance  upon 
the  holes  in  the  rocks,  which  we  supposed  had  been 
the  sepulchres,  and  thought  them  less  worth  a 
journey  than  the  caverns  in  Dovedale,  or  in  a  thou- 
sand other  lovely  scenes  at  home ;  and  we  marvelled 
how  Cardinal  Orioli  could  have  had  the  silliness  to 
write  such  magnificent  flourishes  upon  such  rude 
and  poor  remains,  more  like  holes  for  dogs  or  sheep, 
than  scenes  to  set  people'^s  brains  on  fire ;  and  we 
quite  agreed  with  our  long-headed  English  friend, 
whom  we  had  not  before  believed,  that  it  was  indeed 
a  senseless  thing  to  peril  one's  neck,  and  have  all 
one's  bones  dislocated,  in  a  weary  drive  of  six  rough 
miles,  to  see  at  the  end  nothing  better  than  this. 
We  were  consequently  resolved  to  retrace  our  steps, 
turn  our  backs  in  anger  upon  the  far-famed  valley, 
and  return  in  bad  humour  home.  By  home  I  mean 
Viterbo ;  and  we  had  actually  begun  the  backward 
march,  when  something  gave  a  turn  to  our  feelings, 
and  we  agreed,  after  consulting  together,  that  our 
guide  perhaps  might  not  exactly  know  what  it  was 
we  most  wished  to  see,  and  that  we  would  explore 
the  rocks  for  ourselves,  as  far  as  we  could  walk  and 
trace  them.     It  was  truly  fortunate  we  did  so,  or 


^ 


V 


I 


CASTEL    DASSO. 


407 


neither  of  us  would  ever  have  deemed  the  Biban  el 
Melek  of  Etruria  worth  a  second  thought,  or  ever 
have  spoken  of  it  without  ridicule. 

We  walked  on  about  twenty  yards,  and  then  sat 
down  to  try  and  make  out  if  there  really  was  any- 
thing remarkable  within  our  view.  We  walked  on 
twenty  more,  and  then  began  to  copy  what  we  saw. 
We  walked  on  twenty  more,  and  we  fairly  fell  into 
ecstasies  worthy  of  Orioli,  or  Marini,  or  any  other 
sgavant  who  may  have  written  upon  Castel  d'Asso. 
They  had  their  revenge.  "  Ay,"  said  our  guide, 
"  this  is  just  the  way  Signore  Dodwell  went  on. 
He  was  a  learned  Englishman,  '  un  dotto  Inglese,' 
who  visited  this  place  twenty  years  ago.  He  at  first 
saw  nothing,  and  then  he  began  to  draw,  and  then 
he  measured,  and  then  he  talked,  and  then  he  held 
up  his  hands  like  you." 

When  our  eyes  first  opened  upon  the  sepulchres 
of  Castel  d'Asso,  we  saw  exactly  what  the  plate 
represents,  a  line  of  irregular  rocks,  which  gave  us 
the  idea  of  having  once  all  been  smoothed,  having 
had  a  shaved  face  towards  the  castle,  and  of  having 
afterwards  been  broken  and  made  uneven  either  by 
some  convulsion  of  nature,  or  by  the  mischief  and 
wantonness  of  man.  As  we  sat  and  stared  at  the 
sort  of  street  which  we  began  gradually  to  dis- 
cover, we  saw  that  doors  had  been  engraved  high 
up  the  rocks  in  the  Egyptian  form  ;  that  is,  smaller 
at  the  top  than  at  the  bottom,  and  with  a  broken 
and  defaced,  but  perfectly  visible  rod  cornice  above 
them.     As  we  gazed  still  further,  we  saw  that  these 


408 


CASTEL    D  A690. 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


409 


rock  sepulchres  had  once  joined  one  another  in  a 
continued  series ;  there  was  indeed  fully  a  mile 
of  them,  thirty  of  which  we  counted,  and  the 
castle  valley  is  met  by  another  towards  its  centre, 
and  directly  opposite  the  beautiful  old  fortress,  in 
which  we  saw  sepulchres  in  the  cliffs  on  both 
sides.  They  were  like  a  street,  the  dwellings  of 
which  correspond  to  each  other.  We  condescended 
at  last  to  approach  these  strange  and  chiselled 
rocks,  that  we  might  examine  them  more  closely, 
and  found  beneath  each  engraved  door,  if  I  may 
use  such  an  expression,  an  open  one,  six  or  eight 
feet  lower,  which  led  into  the  burial-chamber.  It 
would  appear  that  these  cavern  mouths  had  formerly 
been  covered  up  with  earth,  and  that  nothing  re- 
mained above  orround  but  the  smooth  face  of  the 
rock,  with  its  false  Egyptian  door  and  narrow 
cornice.  We  entered  several  of  these  sepulchres, 
but  it  would  be  untrue  to  say  we  explored  them,  for 
the  larjrest  and  best  worth  seeing  are  dark  and 
difficult,  and  we  had  neglected  to  bring  our  torches, 
and  therefore  we  could  only  see  to  a  limited  extent 
even  those  cells  into  which  the  bright  sun  pene- 
trated. Some  of  them  would  almost  require  a 
.miner's  dress,  for  they  are  entered  by  a  bore  like 
what  we  saw  at  Monterone.  Of  those  we  did  enter, 
the  greater  part  consisted  of  a  single  low  chamber, 
and  the  roof  was  hewn  out  of  the  rock,  and  was 
either  vaulted  or  flat.  Some  consisted  of  two 
chambers,  the  inner  one  being  lower  than  the  outer. 
Some  were  large,  and  must  have  contained  many 


\ 


bodies,  and  others  were  so  small,  that  unless  they 
were  side  chambers  merely,  of  the  kind  we  saw  at 
Veii,  they  could  only  have  contained  cinerary  urns, 
or  memorials  of  those  who  were  buried  elsewhere. 
I  confess  that  I  believe  they  were  side-chambers 
only,  but  those  we  saw  were  in  the  cross  vallev,  and 
we  were  by  that  time  too  tired  to  fight  with  fallen 
stones  and  prickly  brushwood,  and  a  guide  who  was 
firmly  persuaded  we  were  crazed,  to  try  and  find 
out  the  principal  chamber.  It  is  well  worth  an  anti- 
quary's while,  however,  to  pursue  the  search,  because 
it  is  circumstances  like  these  that  teach  us  ancient 
custom^,  and  enable  us  to  determine  dates.  I  think 
that  all  the  very  small  vaults  which  we  observed 
were  at  some  distance  from  each  other,  and  projected 
from  the  line  as  they  would  naturally  do  if  the  real 
sepulchral  chamber  lay  between  them.  The  idea 
which  entered  my  mind  at  the  time  was,  that  these 
small  chambers  could  not  be  for  infants,  both  because 
none  but  the  illustrious  in  deed  rest  here,  and 
because  no  funeral  honours  were  ever  allowed  to 
infants  ;  neither  is  it  likely  that  they  were  for  urns, 
because  these  graves  bear  marks  of  an  antiquity 
prior  to  the  burning  of  bodies. 

Almost  all,  if  not  every  one,  of  these  caverns  has 
a  ledge  round  it,  sometimes  grooved  for  vases  or 
other  ornaments,  at  others  merely  for  sarcophagi, 
and  in  some  instances  with  stones  laid  across  the 
ledge  on  which  the  uncoffined  body  has  been  placed, 
like  the  grave  of  the  Larthia  at  Csere.  The  farther 
we  advanced,  and  the  more  we  saw,  the  stronger 

T 


4 


It 


410 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


was  the  impression  which  these  caverns  made  upon 
us,  and  the  more  solemn  and  exalted  became  our 
ideas  as  to  the  grand  and  magnificent  conception 
which  had  first  dedicated  them  to  the  memories  of 
those  whose  fame  they  were  intended  to  render  im- 
mortal. We  met  with  two  or  three  that  were  very 
little  injured :  they  were  large  and  perfect  in  form, 
and  deeply  hewn,  and  we  thought  them  truly  noble 
monuments  from  their  very  simplicity.  About  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  where  we  had  first  detected 
the  hand  of  art,  we  began  to  perceive  deep  regular 
lines  of  inscription  in  the  rocks  ;  the  letters  were  a 
foot  high,  and  sometimes  chiselled  two  inches  deep 
in  the  stone  ;  they  were  all  in  the  oldest  Etruscan 
character,  and  evidently  intended  to  be  read  at  a 
distance,  perhaps  even  from  the  other  side  of  the 

valley. 

I  am  sorry  that  I  cannot  find  the  copies  of  any 
of  them,  but  +heir  meaning  to  a  certain  extent 
I  know  perfectly.  They  expressed  the  name  of  the 
deceased,  and  his  title,  his  age,  and  I  believe,  in 
a  rare  instance  or  two,  the  year  in  which  he  died, 
but  according  to  a  computation  now  unknown  ;  and 
at  the  end  of  all  this  was  the  touching  sentence, 
"  Rest  in  peace."  As  our  eyes  became  more  and 
more  accustomed  to  the  place,  we  observed  enor- 
mous fragments  of  rock,  which  had  been  broken 
off  these  sepulchres  in  various  places,  and  were 
lying  in  all  directions  below  us,  happily  with  their 
large  and  long  inscriptions  upturned.  It  seemed  as 
if  they  supplicated  compassion ;  as  if  the  very  stones 


h 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


411 


spoke  to  entreat  protection  from  the  civilised  against 
any  further  attacks  of  the  barbarians.  I  am  doing 
what  I  can  to  answer  the  appeal,  by  making  them 
known,  for  nothing  will  protect  them  so  effectually 
as  the  visits  of  travellers,  which  will  render  their 
preservation  a  matter  of  gain  to  the  Contadini,  and 
indeed  to  the  country  generally.  Some  of  the  in- 
scriptions consist  of  a  few  words,  others  occupy  two 
whole  lines,  and  where  the  valley  I  have  mentioned 
joins  the  castle  glen,  the  inscriptions  have  gone 
round  two  sides  of  the  tomb  ;  and  the  whole  scene 
left  upon  our  minds  the  impression  of  a  sublimity 
and  poverty,  rudeness  and  refinement,  simplicity 
and  art,  which  I  never  saw  united  anywhere  else. 
We  said  to  one  another.  This  has  been  an  eastern 
people.  Here  is  the  oldest  recorded  form  of  human 
burial  for  the  great  amongst  mankind.  Here  is  the 
cavern  sepulchre  like  what  Abraham  purchased  for 
himself  in  the  cave  of  Machpelah,  and  here  is  the 
style  of  writing  alluded  to  by  Job,  184  years  before 
Abraham* — "  O  that  my  words  were  graven  with 
an  iron  pen,  and  lead,  in  the  rock  for  ever."  These 
are  the  graves  of  a  civilised  race  in  their  very  ear- 
liest period.  Here  we  see  reading  and  writing,  a 
distinction  of  ranks,  and  the  ideas  of  a  difiicult  and 
gigantic  masonry.  Is  this  a  Petra?  No,  for  it 
wants  the  sculptures.  Is  it  then  a  Biban  el  Melek  ? 
It  is  certainly  an  assemblage  of  the  sepulchres  of 
great  men  only,  and  of  whole  valleys  dedicated  to 
the  illustrious  dead. 

♦  This  date  is  according  to  Hale,  Brinkly,  and  Ducautaut. 

T    2 


ii 


412 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


Sir  W.  Gell  remarks  of  these  tombs,  "  A  single 
specimen  of  them  may  suffice  instead  of  the  descrip- 
tion of  many.  On  the  front  of  one  is  inscribed  in 
large  letters,  '  Ecasu  in  esl  Titnia,'  or, '  Adieu  in 
peace  Titinius/  On  another,  '  Saucnes  suris.'  On 
others,  *  Ecasu  or  Ecasuth,'  with  some  family  name." 

"  The  '  ^diiim  species  harycq)hal(B,  humiles  et 
latcB,'  or  '  a  style  of  building,  low,  with  heavy  top 
and  wings,'  ascribed  to  the  Etruscans  by  Vitruvius, 
seem  to  be  exemplified  by  the  sepulchres  of  the 
country.  It  may  be  observed,  that  brass  arms 
have  been  found  in  these  sepulchres ;  which  seems 
to  refer  them  to  a  very  ancient  period  ;  it  is  remark- 
able that  scarabei  also,  in  cornelian  and  other  stones, 
are  frequently  met  with  here  as  in  Egypt,  but  always 
with  Greek  or  Etruscan  subjects  engraved  upon 
them.  The  interpretation  of  the  inscriptions  found 
at  Castel  d'*Asso,  and  other  Etruscan  cities,  has 
hitherto  wholly  defied  the  efforts  of  the  learned, 
beyond  family  names,  and  a  very  few  often-repeated 
phrases." 

There  was  once  a  road  which  ran  in  front  of  these 
giant  tombs,  and  led  to  the  temple  of  Voltumna. 
It  was  traversed  with  awe  and  reverence  by  genera- 
tion after  generation  of  the  proud  and  the  noble, 
and  even  now  there  lingers  a  sacred  breathing  of 
seclusion  and  a  holy  beauty  in  the  spot.  This  mode 
of  burial  seems  to  speak  for  itself  that  it  was  prior 
to  petty  masonry,  the  small  cones  of  Csere,  or  the 
large  cones  of  Vulci  and  Tarquinia.  The  tombs 
have   been  all,  without    exception,  rifled,   so    that, 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


413 


\ 


save  a  nail  or  two,  and  the  stone  ledges,  we  did  not 
see  anything  remaining  of  their  former  furniture. 
Amongst  them  all,  the  stunted  oak  and  brushwood 
grew  above,  and  below,  and  around,  whilst  the 
stream  runs  far  beneath.  We  were  shown  one  or 
two,  which,  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  access,  we 
did  not  attempt  to  enter,  but  which  have  an  upper 
chamber  above  the  vault,  ascended  by  a  spiral  stair- 
case cut  in  the  rock  ;  in  the  inside  of  some  we  saw 
the  remains  of  a  very  narrow  cornice  cut  in  the 
stone  and  going  all  round  beneath  the  roof,  and  in 
one  of  them  the  roof  itself  had  some  ornamental 
squares,  like  the  medallions  of  the  Grotta  del 
Cardinale. 

The  fortress  is  seen  from  all  the  tombs  that  we 
entered,  and  indeed  once  commanded  and  protected 
the  whole  of  this  sacred  gorge.     We  could  not  help 
thinking  it  probable  that  the  sepulchres  in  this  glen 
were  all  the  tombs  of  noted  warriors,  laid  in  front 
of  the  castle  ;  those  of  the  double  rows  in  the  centre 
glen  might  be  of  kings  and  statesmen,  and  those 
nearer  the  temple  of  the  high  priests.  These  valleys 
of  hollowed  dust,  these  cliffs  which  were  supposed 
to  eternize  the  names  and  the  deeds  of  the  mighty 
whose  spirits  had  fled,  give  rise  to  noble  ideas  ;  and 
so  much  did  they  grow  upon  us  the  more  we   con- 
sidered them,  and  so  profound  was  the  impression 
they  left,  that  at  this  moment  I  feel,  as  I  did  before 
we  set  off  to  visit  them,  that  I  had  rather  have  seen 
the  glens  of   Castel  d'Asso  than  any  other  spot  in 
Europe,  except  Borne. 


lii- 


i 


414 


CASTEL    D  AS30. 


The  precise  site  of  the  ancient  fane  of  Voltumna  is 
not  ascertained ;  but  as  Castel  d'Asso  is  undoubtedly 
the  old  fort,  the  "  Castellum  Axia,"  so  it  seems  ex- 
tremely probable  that  the  little  oratory  of  San  Gio- 
vanni stands  upon,  or  within,  the  ground  once 
occupied  by  the  old  temple.  Voltumna  was  the 
goddess  of  Concord  and  the  protectress  of  the  Etrus- 
can league  ;  and  though  her  temple  was  never  used 
as  a  place  of  national  assembly  after  the  year  400  of 
Rome,  it  must  ever  have  been  holy  ground  in  the 
eyes  of  every  Etruscan,  solemnised  and  sanctified  by 
glorious  recollections  and  by  fond  regret.  It  would 
probably  last  as  a  fabric,  though  in  ruins,  till  the 
christian  era,  and  then  it  was  a  common  custom  for 
the  Italian  Christians  to  turn  all  those  places  which 
they  had  found  devoted  to  idols  into  oratories. 
Their  idea  was  to  supersede  false  worship  by  true,  to 
purify  the  temple  of  Baal,  and  make  it  the  temple  of 
God,  but  to  let  sacred  ground  continue  sacred  still. 
We  of  the  north,  in  our  fiercer  mood,  used  to  destroy 
the  heathen  temples,  because  we  said,  "  what  agree- 
ment hath  the  temple  of  God  with  idols?"  But  this 
was  not  the  genius  of  the  whole  of  Christendom, 
and  I  do  not  recollect  any  instance  of  it  during  the 
lifetime  of  the  apostles. 

Muller  says,  that  in  the  heathen  times  an  annual 
fair  was  held  here  at  the  feast  of  the  goddess,  when 
the  merchants  from  Egypt  and  Greece,  from  Tyre 
and  Carthage,  and  those  of  Asia  Minor,  brought 
their  wares  for  sale ;  and  that,  during  the  inde- 
pendence of  Etruria,  there  was  a  fixed  meeting  every 


i 


1 


b 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


415 


year  of  all  the  states  for  sacrifice,  besides  the  great 
political  meetings  which  were  called  whenever  a 
common  danger  threatened  the  league,  or  any  parti- 
cular state  desired  it,  each  state  having  the  power  of 
summonins:  the  council  whenever  it  chose.  Now 
though  Rome  peremptorily  forbade  political  meet- 
ings amongst  her  Italian,  so  called,  "  allies,"  and 
therefore  these  must  have  been  abolished  from  the 
time  her  rule  was  established,  yet  the  yearly  sacri- 
fice and  fair  may  have  long  continued,  or  perhaps 
have  never  ceased. 

There  is  an  annual  fair  at  San  Giovanni  di  Bieda 
now,  and  truly  it  was  to  me  an    interesting   and 
poetic  thought,  that  it  may  be  the  uninterrupted 
though  humble  and  fallen  representative  of  the  once 
lordly  pageant;  and  that  as  such,  it  is  in  perfect 
keeping  with  all  the    rest   of  the  scenery  round. 
The  little  image  and  the  peasant  fair,  represent  as 
thoroughly  the  proud  temple,  rich  in  costly  gifts, 
the  meeting  of  the  princely  nobles,  and  the  eastern 
merchants,  as  do  the   open   plundered   graves,    in 
their  present  neglect  and  decay,  the  once  hallowed 
and  guarded  tombs ;  or  as  the  ruined  and  deserted 
fortress  may  image  the  massive  and  solid  Etruscan 
masonry  which  marked    the    habitation   of  armed 
men.     I  might,  indeed,  further  add,  they  represent 
one  another  in  the  same  manner  as  the  thin  and 
scattered  wood  upon  the  hill  near  Viterbo  repre- 
sents the  once  dreaded  gloom  and  dangerous  shades 
of  the  Ciminian  forest,  and  as  the  sulphureous  pond, 
called  by  the  peasants  "  Valdemone,"  in  the  Valle 


416 


CASTEL  D  ASSO. 


CASTEL  d'ASSO. 


417 


d'Orta,  does  the  renowned  and  disastrous  Vadi- 
uionian  Sea.  It  is  quite  evident  that  these  illus- 
trious graves  have  been  wantonly  defaced,  and,  as 
far  as  idle  men  could  effect  it,  destroyed,  in  mere 
pastime  in  various  places,  for  we  saw  masses  of  rock 
that  had  been  split  and  pushed  down  in  a  manner 
which  could  only  have  been  done  by  the  repeated 
attempts  of  mischievous  hands,  and  we  accused  of 
the  deed  the  garrisons  opposite,  from  the  days  of 
Alaric  to  those  of  Napoleon.  The  strata  of  the 
rocks  was  in  no  place  disturbed  as  an  earthquake 
would  have  done  it,  but  large  blocks  with  long  en- 
gravings had  been  tumbled  down  whence  none  can 
ever  raise  them  up  again. 

It  is  perhaps  candid  to  state,  that  we  did  not  see 
the  adjacent  glens  of  Blera,  where  I  believe  there  is 
a  village,  and  of  San  Giovanni ;  and  therefore  it  is 
possible  that  tombs  may  remain  there,  still  better 
worth  the  pains  of  an  excursion  than  anything  we 
did  see ;  but  I  am  inclined  to  think  not,  and  that  the 
chief  glen  has  been  that  of  Castel  d'Asso,  or  at  least 
that  the  others  would  be  merely  a  repetition  of  the 
same  thing.  In  old  times  the  high  priest  and  the 
king  were  buried  in  sepulchres  of  exactly  the  same 
form,  and  with  much  the  same  ceremonies,  and  the 
furniture  only  was  different,  none  of  wh'.ch  now  re- 
mains. The  sculpture,  I  feel  sure,  was  not  better 
worth  seeing  further  down  than  here,  for  though 
what  we  saw  was  extremely  simple,  yet  it  was  per- 
fect in  its  kind,  denoting  the  infancy  of  a  great 
people,  and  nothing  of  their  decay.     The  tombs  were 


;> 


sketched  rather  than  sculptured,  but  the  sketch  was 
that  of  a  great  mind  and  a  masterly  hand. 

We  were  moralising  and  meditating,  wondering 
and  copying  amongst  these  graves,  when  we  were 
startled  by  the  noise  of  shouting  in  the  glen,  and  by 
encountering  the  nose  of  a  donkey  which  pushed 
forward  through  the  brushwood  and  almost  knocked 
me  down.  It  was  laden  with  panniers,  and,  though 
pioneering  its  own  way,  was  very  quickly  followed 
by  six  young  men,  all  Italians,  and  all  with  baskets 
and  rods,  come  here  to  fish.  Shortly  after  we  met 
another  party  with  a  donkey,  who  looked  like 
wandering  artists,  and  some  of  whom  descended 
into  the  open  tombs,  but  they  did  not  appear  to 
understand  anything  about  them.  Our  guide  told 
us  that  these  valleys,  on  account  of  their  beauty 
and  their  streams,  were  a  favourite  resort  of  all  the 
neighbouring  gentry  and  townspeople  for  fishing  or 
for  sketching,  or  to  pass  a  summer's  day  ;  also,  at 
certain  times  of  the  year,  for  students  from  all  that 
part  of  Italy,  who  come  either  for  relaxation,  or 
for  instruction,  as  the  turn  of  mind  may  be.  When 
I  asked  him  if  Cardinal  Orioli  was  not  the  first 
person  who  had  brought  them  into  notice,  he  said, 
No — that  the  first  persons  were  two  canons  of 
Viterbo,  the  one  now  dead,  and  the  other  a  man  of 
ninety,  who  examined  and  wrote  a  description  of 
them  many  years  ago,  and  in  consequence  of  whose 
publications  Orioli  had  come  to  see  them.  He  told 
me  their  names,  but  I  only  recollect  Padre  Semina- 


T  5 


\\ 


\ 


418 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


rio,  of  the  Minerva.  We  could  extract  no  informa- 
tion as  to  what  these  tombs  formerly  contained,  nor 
when  the  last  of  them  was  rifled,  but  they  were  pro- 
bably plundered  ages  since,  for  they  were  marked 
objects  to  a  set  of  idle  soldiers,  and  the  opening  of 
one  would  immediately  lead  to  the  ravaging  of  them 

all. 

I  feel  half  ashamed  to  confess,  that  we  left  Viter- 
bo,  where  there  is  a  learned  and  distinguished  body 
of  antiquarians,  chiefly  ecclesiastics,  without  seeing 
the  museum.  Objects  of  the  greatest  beauty  are 
found  in  sepulchres  all  round  Viterbo,  and  from  a 
tomb  at  Bomarso,  very  near  the  town,  came  the 
largest  panathenaic  vase,  and  the  finest  tazza  in  our 
possession.  Micali  mentions  two  cucumelle,  that 
is,  tombs  in  the  Lydian  fashion,  which  were  opened 
in  1831,  at  Baccano,  between  Viterbo  and  Monte 
Fiascone,  and  these  conical  sepulchres  are  not  un- 
frequent  all  round  this  neighbourhood,  as  might  be 
expected  throughout  the  state  of  Tarquinia.  He 
also  mentions  a  spot  called  Paratula,  which  was  ex- 
cavated in  1493,  in  the  presence  of  Pope  Alexander 
VI.,  out  of  which  were  taken  many  statues  in  stone 
and  marble,  with  Etruscan  inscriptions,  and  the  ac- 
counts of  which  exist  in  the  public  library  at  Sienna. 
We  had  no  time  at  Sienna  to  examine  these  ac- 
counts, which  I  believe  to  be  in  manuscript.  They 
were  written  by  Sigismondo  Tizi  di  Castiglione,  a 
Florentine,  in  the  1st  vol.  of  the  History  of  Sienna, 
and  are  said  to  be  very  interesting  and  curious.     It 


^1 


f(  ]> 


I 


!t 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


419 


IS  possible  that  the  statues  themselves  may  remain 
in  the  museum  at  Viterbo,  but  this  point  I  could 
not  ascertain. 

The  very  rarest  of  the  Italian  coins  have  also 
been  found  hereabouts,  as  might  reasonably  have 
been  expected  from  the  seat  of  national  assembly 
and  of  greatest  foreign  resort.  The  first  of  them  was 
an  assis  of  Servius  Tullius,  with  the  word  "  Roma" 
upon  it,  in  ancient  Etruscan  letters,  bearing  a  front 
face  of  Rome  upon  the  one  side  and  an  ox  upon 
the  reverse,  which  devices  refer  to  some  leagrue  be- 
tween  Rome  and  an  Etruscan  state  or  city,  at  a 
time  when  the  stamp  of  Rome  was  so  new  that  it 
required  to  be  named  in  order  to  be  recognised. 
Another  of  these  coins  was  found  more  towards 
Monte  Fiascone.  At  Viterbo  there  was  also  an 
assis  found  with  a  tripod  on  one  side  and  a  trident 
on  the  other,  the  emblem  of  a  union  between  re- 
ligion and  commerce.  In  two  or  three  other  tombs 
was  found  a  different  sort  of  money.  The  pieces 
are  of  bronze  and  triangular,  each  piece  weighing 
five  pounds,  with  a  trident  on  one  side  and  a 
thyrsus  on  the  other — the  symbols  of  commerce  in 
wine.  These  strange  coins,  two  in  number,  are  now 
in  the  Jesuits*  museum ;  Cavaliere  Visconti  gave 
me  the  account  of  the  first  mentioned,  and  would, 
I  am  sure,  inform  any  stranger  where  they  may 
be  seen. 

The  unicorn  is  the  present  emblem  of  the  city  of 
Viterbo,  and  was  very  likely  adopted  from  that  of 
Voltumna,  as  these  emblems  seldom  change ;  and  I 


420 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


f 


have  already  alluded  to  one  or  two  upon  my  own 
scarabei,  which  remain  the  same  now  as  they  were 
centuries  before  the  christian  era.  Tarens  is  one  of 
them,  the  founder  of  Tarentum.  The  scarabeus 
representation  is  a  man  sitting  on  a  dolphin »  with  a 
star  beneath  him,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  history  that 
this  was  the  arms  of  Tarentum  five  hundred  years 
B.  c,  and  it  remains  the  arms  of  Tarentum  at  this 
day.  This  singular  scarabeus,  deeply  cut,  but  in  a 
very  early  style,  is  of  black  agate,  with  a  female 
head  on  the  reverse  side  in  relievo,  exactly  like  an 
Egyptian  head,  though  of  Etruscan  carving  We 
did  not  hear  of  any  very  remarkable  scarabei  being 
found  in  the  Viterbese,  and  all  those  of  Castel 
d'Asso,  (fee,  which  would  have  been  most  interest- 
ing, have  long  since  disappeared. 

We  spent  in  these  beautiful  glens  a  far  shorter 
time  than  they  deserved,  chiefly  from  not  know- 
ing how  we  ought  to  have  proceeded.  We  should 
have  started  very  early  in  the  morning  with  mules 
or  ponies,  and  we  should  have  taken  torches  for  the 
graves,  and  provisions  for  the  day  ;  also,  a  blouse  to 
put  on  when  descending  by  the  mine  shafts,  and 
then  we  might  have  employed  a  long  day  in  seeing 
all  the  four  valleys  completely.  On  our  return,  as 
we  approached  the  mill,  we  observed,  about  a  mile 
from  the  track,  a  number  of  small  columns  of 
smoke  at  some  distance  from  each  other,  with  a 
sort  of  bluish  appearance  towards  the  ground,  as 
if  there  was  an  occasional  low  jet  of  flame.  This 
proved  to  be  what  the  Italians  call  a  "  bulicame," 


CASTEL    d'aSSO. 


421 


• 

1.  e.  a  quantity  of  liquid  sulphureous  matter  in 
action,  and  is  worth  the  trouble  of  a  visit.  The 
whole  of  the  ground  in  this  district  is  volcanic,  and 
the  bulicame  seems  to  be  the  remains  of  still  un- 
absorbed  or  unexhausted  volcanic  matter.  Some 
antiquarians  have  boldly  maintained  that  it  was 
once  the  Vadimonian  sea,  but  all  probabilities  are 
more  in  favour  of  the  Valdemone  in  the  Val  d'Orta, 
though  the  two  sulphureous  marshes  closely  resemble 
each  other,  this  being  the  larger  and  the  more  por 
teutons. 

As  we  drove  home  and  reasoned  upon  the  excited 
imaginations  with  which  we  had  left  Viterbo  in  the 
morning,  our  consequent  disgust  and  disappoint- 
ment, and  the  very  high  gratification  we  had  re- 
ceived from  a  little  patience  and  careful  investiga- 
tion,  I  could  not  help  thinking  that  we  had  been 
like  the  Irishman  who  abused  his  gamekeeper  be- 
cause he  did  not  find  in  the  same  beat  the  sixteen 
brace  of  partridges  which  his  brother  had  shot  the 
day  before :  "  Why,"  says  the  man,  "  sure  your 
honour  did  not  suppose  that  those  same  we  bagged 
yesterday  would  be  here  waiting  for  us  to-day  ?" 

How  very  often  do  we  English  travellers  go  to 
see  the  ruins  of  ancient  grandeur,  and  the  sites  of 
renowned  cities,  such  as  Troy  or  Carthage,  Nine- 
veh or  Babylon,  which  we  know  have  only  been 
fixed  by  the  deep  reading  and  the  painful  and 
repeated  searches  of  learned  travellers,  as  if  we 
expected  that  all  their  former  pomp  should  sur- 
round them  still— as  if  the  genius  of  glory  and  re- 


422 


CASTEL    D  ASSO. 


/ 


nown  which  lingers  over  them,  were  bound  to  make 
itself  visible  in  gross  and  palpable  form  to  our 
material  eyes.  Alas  !  from  them  the  past  and  the 
future  are  equally  veiled,  and  belong  to  those  ex- 
istences in  which  spirit  alone  can  commune  with 
spirit.  It  may  be  a  humbling  thing  to  human 
pride  to  visit  the  poor  remnants  of  greatness  passed 
away,  the  all  but  forgotten,  all  but  undiscernible 
indications  of  our  noblest  talents,  and  our  mightiest 
efforts ;  but  it  ought  to  be  eminently  useful.  Here 
we  see  that "  they  all  wax  old  like  a  garment,  and 
are  all  eaten  up  like  wool ;  but  thou,  Lord,  art  the 
same,  and  thy  years  shall  not  fail." 

We  had  seen  at  Castel  d'Asso  the  very  rocks  not 
able  to  preserve  the  dead  committed  to  them  ;  and 
the  words  graven  upon  those  rocks,  though  not 
indeed  obliterated,  have  in  many  instances  been 
moved  out  of  their  place,  and  in  all  have  ceased  to 
tell  their  tale.  Let  us  not,  then,  sentimentally  and 
uselessly  lament  the  appointed  lot  of  everything 
in  this  world,  whether  in  flesh  or  stone ;  let  us  not 
weep  that  all  which  lives  must  die,  "  all  that's 
bright  must  fade,''  all  that  exists  must  perish  ;  but 
let  M5,  who  look  upon  their  vacant  places,  and 
either  eulogize  the  day  when  they  flourished,  or 
give  a  sigh  to  their  decay — let  us,  who  know  that 
the  time  is  coming  when  our  own  country  also  may 
be  laid  as  low — that  even  England  may  become  a 
theme 


(( 


To  point  a  moral  or  adorn  a  tale  ;" 


CASTEL    DASSO. 


423 


let  us  ask  ourselves.  Have  we  any  reason  to  believe 
that  we  are  the  possessors  of  better  things ;  have 
we,  with  our  full  light,  secured  to  ourselves  that 
which  every  Christian  is  entitled  to  account  his 
own, — a  more  enduring  habitation,  a  more  lasting 
memorial,  and  a  glory  which  passeth  not  away  ?  * 

*  See  Appendix  H. 


u« 


4-24 


\ 


CHAPTER  IX. 


CLUSIUM. 


I  HAVE  now  come  to  the  termination  of  our 
Etruscan  expedition,  which  ended  at  Chiusi ;  for 
we  were  in  the  month  of  June,  and  the  heat  was 
such,  that  we  could  visit  no  more  towns  without  a 
residence  of  several  days.  The  hot  time  of  the  day, 
from  ten  in  the  morning  to  six  in  the  evening,  must 
have  been  spent  within  doors,  without  comfort  or 
occupation,  in  Italian  inns  ;  and  we  should  have  had 
no  other  hours  for  exploring  than  those  before  or 
after  ten  or  six,  which  we  thought  would  be  too  in- 
convenient for  our  purpose.  We  were  also  anxious, 
like  most  of  our  countrymen,  to  make  our  way 
quickly  to  cooler  regions,  before  the  summer  solstice 
had  actually  set  in.  We  accordingly  left  Viterbo 
for  Monte  Fiascone,  a  very  old  Etruscan  settlement ; 
and  whilst  our  horses  were  resting,  we  walked  up 
the  hill  upon  which  the  town  is  perched,  that  we 


I? 


u 


V 


\\ 


CLUSIUM. 


425 


might  once  more  enjoy  the  view  from  its  summit, 
over  the  beautiful  lake  of  Bolsenna,  along  a  lovely 
and  fertile  country,  and  over  many  a  wide  plain, 
rich  in  the  vine  and  olive,  as  far  as  from  Bolsenna 
itself  to  Corneto  and  the  sea.  We  looked  a  last 
adieu  to  the  scenes  of  former  adventures  and  plea- 
sures—the sites  of  Tuscania,  Tarquinia,  Gravisca, 
and  Ansidonia,  and  upon  ground  occupied  by  the 
dead,  wider  in  extent  than  that  now  peopled  by  the 
living.  It  is  a  land  obscure  and  unknown  to  one 
half  of  Europe,  but  it  was,  centuries  ago,  the  mart 
of  civilisation,  and  the  highway  of  nations. 

When  we  reached  the  terrace  by  which  this  view 
is  commanded,  we  found  there  a  company  of  pea- 
sants assembled  for  the  same  purpose  as  ourselves, 
and  who  reminded  me  of  Scotchmen,  so  much  did 
they  know  of  the  history  of  the  country,  its  past 
glories  and  vicissitudes,  and  all  its  new  and  old 
localities,  and  so  much  did  they  seem  to  pride  them- 
selves in  recollections  which  spread  a  halo  over  their 
native  land. 

Many  sepulchres  full  of  curious  things  have  been 
found  at  Monte  Fiascone,  and  we  saw  the  open 
mouths  of  several  of  them  ;  but  as  they  were  empty, 
and  of  the  same  kind  with  what  we  had  seen  else- 
where, particularly  at  Tuscania,  we  did  not  enter 
any.  We  pursued  our  way  by  a  good  road,  and 
through  a  cultivated  and  delightful  country,  until 
we  came  in  sight  of  Orvieto,  one  of  the  loveliest 
scenes  in  Europe.  We  here  descended  a  steep  hill 
literally  groaning  under  the  richness  of  its  produce, 


426 


CLUSIUM. 


covered  with  olives,  vines,  and  other  fruit  trees,  and 
peopled  now  as  thickly  as  it  probably  was  in  ancient 
days.  There  were  two  large  convents  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  road,  with  quantities  of  pretty  orna- 
mented cottages  and  terraced  gardens,  each  new 
turn  of  the  road  bringing  into  view  something 
which  we  had  not  observed  before,  and  which  told 
of  industry,  wealth,  and  comfort.  The  hill  was  cul- 
tivated and  ornamented  from  its  summit  to  its  base, 
and  before  it  rose  the  magnificent  and  stately  height 
on  which  stands  Orvieto,  rising  as  completely 
isolated  as  a  rock  in  the  midst  of  the  waters,  and  its 
ridge  of  steep  cliffs  being  everywhere  surmounted, 
in  true  old  Etruscan  fashion,  by  a  strong  city  wall, 
with  gates  and  towers,  giving  one  quite  the  idea  of 
what  Veii  must  have  been  before  its  destruction. 
The  castle  stands  outside  the  gates,  and  is  a  very 
large  and  strong  fortress,  surrounded  by  a  deep 
fosse ;  and  though  deserted,  empty,  and  much  in- 
jured, the  outside  is  so  entire,  that  we  could  not 
look  upon  it  as  a  ruin,  and  we  wondered  that  it  was 
not  repaired  and  still  made  to  contain  a  garrison. 
Orvieto  is  famous  for  its  wine,  and  boasts  of  two 
wonders,  which  no  stranger  should  neglect  to  see, 
and  which  will  occupy  about  one  day.  These  are 
the  well  of  San  Patrizio,  and  the  cathedral.  The 
ancient  emblem  of  this  town  was  a  goose,  a  bird 
sacred  to  Bacchus. 

Our  first  care,  as  usual,  was  to  get  accommoda- 
tion at  the  inn,  and  we  found  the  landlord  at  first  as 
imposing  as  his  house  looked  wretched  ;  but  after  a 


'I 


^/ 


^^ 


I 


,'  » 


I' 


\ 


CLUSIUM. 


427 


time  we  became  friends,  and  he  made  us  more  com- 
fortable than  we  had  thought  possible.  Our  beds 
and  bedrooms  were  clean  and  dry,  and  as  we  took 
care  not  to  order  things  which  he  could  not  furnish, 
our  supper  was  excellent,  and  our  breakfast  d-la- 
fourchette  by  no  means  bad.  The  room  in  which  we 
supped  appeared  to  me  to  have  been  a  place  of  con- 
cealment in  the  house  ;  it  was  low  and  vaulted,  and 
looked  so  exactly  like  an  Etruscan  tomb,  that  we 
all  started  as  we  entered  it.  I  think  it  only  fair, 
when  entreating  my  countrymen  to  go  off  the  high 
road,  and  away  from  the  well-provided  inns  of  the 
frequented  part  of  Italy,  to  warn  them  that  they 
must  take  their  own  provisions,  or  accommodate 
themselves  to  the  manners  and  habits  of  the  natives 
in  towns  and  villages  where  there  is  no  post.  The 
English  are  too  apt  to  call  for  tea,  cofiee,  and  milk, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  and  to  declare,  when  they 
cannot  get  them,  that  they  are  certainly  to  be  found 
all  over  the  world  besides,  except  at  that  one  unfor- 
tunate and  most  stupid  inn  to  which  their  ill  fortune 
has  that  night  led  them.  Above  all,  they  reckon 
upon  bread,  biscuit,  and  wine  being  staple  commo- 
dities everywhere.  Now  it  so  happens  that  biscuit 
is  unknown  out  of  the  great  towns,  bread  is  con- 
stantly uneatable,  and  the  wine  is  too  sour  to  be 
drunk.  Tea  is  not  to  be  procured,  and  milk  is 
thought  so  unwholesome,  that  for  half  the  year  the 
cows  are  sent  up  to  the  mountains,  perhaps  ten 
miles  off.  What  then  is  to  be  done  ?  A  landlord 
will  sometimes  coolly  say,  "  If  you   required   these 


428 


CLUSIUM. 


CLUSIUM. 


429 


li 


things,  you  should  have  sent  to  us  yesterday,  and 
we  should  have  had  them  ready ;  but  if  you  give  us 
no  time,  you  must  take  what  we  can  give."  We 
found  the  yolk  of  an  egg  an  excellent  substitute  for 
milk  with  our  tea,  and  gradually  got  accustomed 
to  the  goat's  milk,  which  is  what  is  used  by  the 
people.  Eggs  may  always  be  had,  and  omelet ; 
generally,  also,  fruit  and  macaroni,  rice,  and  some 
sort  of  soup !  cheese  is  in  every  house,  but  gene- 
rally too  strong  for  an  English  stomach.  The  wines 
of  Monte  Fiascone  and  Orvieto  are  both  excellent 
and  celebrated  throughout  the  papal  states,  but 
they  are  heady,  and  very  often  mixed  with  white 
lead.  When  travellers  bring  their  own  provisions, 
such  as  fowls,  &c.,  which  English  travellers  often 
feel  ashamed  to  do,  the  innkeepers  in  such  places 
as  Orvieto,  or  Citta  di  Pieve,  are  much  obliged  to 
them  for  their  consideration,  instead  of  being  of- 
fended, or  thinking  it  mean,  and  are  quite  happy 
to  prepare  their  provisions  with  far  more  of  con- 
diment and  cookery  than  we  could  find  in  any 
country  inn  at  home. 

Our  arrangements  with  our  host  being  completed, 
we  proceeded  to  lionize  the  well  of  San  Patrizio, 
the  walk  to  which  is  very  fatiguing,  as  it  lies  fully 
a  mile  off,  without  anything  of  interest  to  amuse 
by  the  way.  It  is  near  the  castle,  and  was  built 
to  supply  the  garrison  with  water,  being  a  source 
which  never  fails,  while  all  the  fountains  in  the 
town  occasionally  run  dry.  In  consequence,  this  well 
is  allowed  to  be  used  by  the  people,  and  the  descent 


\ 


to  it  by  a  spiral  staircase  is  made  wide  enough 
for  a  water-cart,  drawn  by  a  donkey,  to  go  down. 
It  is  enclosed  by  a  circular  tower  hollow  in  the 
centre,  which  reminded  me  of  Coningsboro'  Castle 
in  Yorkshire.  The  walls  are  double,  something 
after  the  fashion  of  the  towers  we  saw  at  Tuscanella, 
and  the  inside  wall  is  perforated  with  open  windows, 
so  that  for  many  hours  of  the  day  the  light  of  the 
sun  is  quite  sufficient  to  show  the  way  with  safety. 
Between  these  walls  are  two  staircases  crossing:  and 
interlacing  each  other,  and  so  contrived  as  never  to 
meet ;  but  w^hoever  descends  by  the  one  side,  ascends 
by  the  other,  and  there  are  separate  doors  of  ingress 
and  egress.  I  asked  if  it  was  named  after  the  Scotch 
St.  Patrick,  but  though  the  names  and  stories  of 
the  old  British  saints  in  general  are  better  known 
in  the  hamlets  of  Italy  than  in  the  universities  of 
England,  I  do  not  think  the  fame  of  St.  Patrick  of 
Dumbarton,  the  apostle  of  Ireland,  had  ever  reached 
Orvieto.  It  was  named  after  a  dignitary  named 
Patrizio,  who  built  it,  and  who  was  either  a  bishop 
or  a  governor  of  the  place. 

The  cathedral  we  visited  twice,  spending  there  the 
evening  of  one  day  and  the  morning  of  the  next,  in 
order  to  see  it  by  both  lights,  without  which  it  is  im- 
possible to  do  it  justice.  It  stands  in  a  square  by 
itself,  and  is  the  finest  thing  of  the  kind  in  Italy. 
The  front  is  florid  gothic,  with  Norman  arches  and 
pinnacles,  and  the  building  is  entirely  of  white  and 
black  marble,  inlaid  with  brilliant  mosaics.  The 
front  is  approached  by  broad  marble  steps,  and  has 


I 


430 


CLUSIUM. 


CLUSIUM. 


431 


three  doors,  the  centre  doorway  being  a  round  arch, 
composed  of  small  pillars,  alternately  twisted  and 
plain,  with  a  cornice  of  arabesques ;  and  within  the 
arch  there  is  a  very  old  mosaic  of  the  Virgin  and 
Child ;  over  this  is  a  pointed  gothic  arch,  with  an  old 
mosaic  of  the  ascension  of  the  Madonna.  The  arches 
of  the  side-doors  are  pointed,  and  above  each  door  is  a 
high  pediment  of  marble,  enshrining  gothic  mosaics, 
which  represent,  the  one  the  birth  of  the  Virgin, 
author  unknown,  and  the  Qther  the  baptism  of  our 
Saviour,  by  Cesare  Nebbia.  On  each  side  of  the 
doors  are  compartments  of  white  marble,  in  the 
form  of  a  tree  with  branches.  Each  branch  takes 
a  different  scene  of  scripture  history,  and  is  worked 
in  basso  relievo,  beginning  with  Adam  and  Eve,  and 
ending  with  the  final  judgment.  It  is  in  a  very  fine 
style  of  art,  by  the  famous  Niccolo  Pisano,  or 
Nicholas  of  Pisa,  a.  d.  1267,  who  was  the  first  artist 
of  his  day.  Over  these  stand  the  emblems,  or,  as  the 
Italians  rightly  call  them,  the  hieroglyphics  of  the 
four  evangelists  in  bronze.  The  three  upper  mosaics 
represent  the  coronation  of  the  Virgin  after  a  design 
of  Lanfranco's ;  the  presentation  in  the  temple,  very 
old,  and  author  not  known  ;  and  the  affiancing  of  the 
Virgin,  by  Pomarancio.  The  coronation  is  the  highest 
mosaic  of  all,  in  very  bright  colours  and  graceful  forms, 
and  has  been  lately  renewed  by  Cardinal  Gualtiero, 
and  the  learned  Cardinal  Orioli,  present  Bishop  of 
Orvieto.  I  do  not  know  the  date  of  this  church's  erec- 
tion, but  it  is  on  one  continued  plan,  and  not  made  up 
of  heterogeneous  materials,  like  the  churches  in  the 
6 


I 


north  of  Italy.  The  facade  is  in  the  same  style  with 
many  of  the  beautiful  cathedrals  of  Normandy  and 
England,  there  being  introduced  into  the  stone-work 
the  gay  and  brilliant  colours  of  the  south,  in  such 
well-executed  mosaics,  that  they  have  the  effect  of 
fine  pictures  outside  the  church.  The  name  of  the 
architect  was  Lorenzo  Maytani  of  Sienna. 

We  saw  a  painting  of  this  cathedral  in  Rome, 
which  was  exhibited  privately  to  the  Pope,  and  may 
very  possibly  be  purchased   by  this    time  for  the 
Vatican.     It  was  by  a  native  artist,  about  two  feet 
or  two  and  a  half  feet  high,  and  had  taken  him  two 
years  to  execute,  from  the  abundance  and  minute- 
ness of  the  ornaments  to  be  copied.     There  is  a 
manufactory  of  mosaic  equal  to  the  Roman,  in  a 
very  episcopal-looking  building  close  to  the  church, 
and   the  inhabitants  of  the  town  have  an  honest 
pride  in  keeping  their  cathedral  in  perfect  repair. 
It  was  in  all  its  glory  when  we  saw  it,  for  it  was  the 
octave  of  the  corpus  Domini,  considered  in  Italy 
as  the  closing  scene  of  the  Easter  festivals,  and  all 
the  people  were  in  gala.     The  cardinal  bishop  in  his 
richest  robes  bore  the  host,  and  a  numerous  clergy 
and  immense  crowd  of  people  followed.   It  is  a  pretty 
thing  to  see  an  Italian  town  upon  a  festa-day,  be- 
cause the  streets  are  thronged,  not  merely  with  gay, 
but  with  cleanly  dressed  people  ;  and  the  velvets  and 
the  silks,  and  the  gold  and  the  scarlet,  do  not  look 
more  rich,  than  the  volumes  of  muslin  worn  by  the 
women  look  pure  and  graceful.     At  such  times  they 
always  display  either  long  white  veils  or  large  white 


432 


CLUSIUM. 


handkerchiefs,  or  broad  worked  muslin  aprons,  and 
sometimes  all  three,  upon  their  persons.  At  Orvieto, 
however,  the  costume  upon  the  head  was  a  small 
scarlet  shawl  bound  with  black  or  yellow,  and  to  my 
surprise  made  of  worsted,  reminding  me  of  the  once 
universal  use  of  wool  for  dresses  in  the  Roman 
states. 

When  the  procession  came  out  of  the  church  it 
was  accompanied  by  a  sort  of  village  band  playing 
lively  airs,  but  this  music  ceased  as  it  re-entered,  and 
we  found  the  nave  lined  with  military.  The  host 
after  a  few  minutes  was  restored  to  its  place,  a  dead 
silence  followed,  and  then  the  event  was  announced 
by  a  blast  of  trumpets,  which  had  an  effect  startling 
and  sublime.  The  inside  of  this  church  is  worthy 
of  its  exterior,  and  I  need  hardly  add,  rich  and 
handsome.  It  is  divided  into  three  parts  by  two 
rows  of  fine  marble  pillars,  with  very  curious  capitals, 
and  the  holy  water  font  stands  upon  a  sculptured 
pillar,  or  altar.  On  the  left  hand  of  the  transept  is  the 
chapel  of  the  santissimo  corporale,  and  on  the  right 
that  of  the  Madonna,  a  wonder  of  the  world,  which  I 
am  equally  incapable  of  describing  and  of  magnify- 
ing it  as  it  deserves.  Had  the  cathedral  possessed 
nothing  else,  it  would  have  been  the  gem  of  Italy 
from  this  chapel  alone.  It  is  entirely  covered  with 
fresco  paintings,  the  walls  by  Luca  Signorelli,  and 
the  roof,  which  is  like  that  of  a  tent,  and  divided 
into  four  or  five  compartments,  by  Beato  Angelico 
and  Ghirlandajo.  Those  who  know  the  chaste  co- 
louring and  delicate  softness  of  Angelico,  may  have 


•\ 


CLUSIUM. 


433 


much  to  admire,  but  little  new  to  wonder  at  in  the 
roof;  but  the  walls,  I  confess,  almost  surpassed  my 
powers  of  belief.  I  had  often  heard  that  Signorelli 
was  a  great  painter,  and  had  seen  many  of  his 
pictures,  all  of  them,  to  my  eyes,  stiff,  exaggerated, 
and  barbarous,  though  masterly ;  but  the  figures 
here  were  flowing,  graceful,  powerful,  energetic,  and 
touching.  The  four  walls  represent  many  scenes  of 
one  story — the  fall  and  judgment  of  Antichrist ;  and 
the  whole  bodies  forth  a  grander  epic  poem  than  any 
story  I  ever  saw  in  painting  elsewhere.  I  wonder 
that  with  the  many  glowing  geniuses  and  fervid 
minds  of  Italy  it  has  never  been  transplanted  into 
verse. 

The  first  compartment  exhibits  Antichrist  falling 
like  lightning  from  heaven.  Then  he  appears 
upon  the  earth,  a  noble  and  venerable  figure,  with 
the  single  blemish  of  the  mal  occhio,  standing  on  a 
sort  of  platform,  and  haranguing  the  people.  Behind 
him  is  seen  the  spirit  of  evil  prompting  his  speech, 
and  whispering  into  his  ear.  He  beguiles  the  mul- 
titude with  the  all-seducing  words  of  man's  wisdom, 
and  he  displays  at  his  feet  the  glittering  rewards 
and  tempting  gifts  which  are  reserved  for  his  ser- 
vants. Here  are  scattered  or  heaped  up  vast  piles 
of  money,  gold  and  silver  vessels,  rich  furniture, 
and  jewels  ;  and  he  seems  to  say,  "  Who  are  the  fools 
that  follow  after  wisdom,  and  the  weak  who  seek 
after  godliness  ?  who  mortify  the  desires  of  the  flesh, 
and  humble  the  pride  of  the  understanding  ?  For- 
sake your  superstitions  and  austerities,  and  follow 

u 


434 


CLUSIUM. 


after  me.  Behold,  the  riches,  and  the  honours,  and 
the  glory  of  this  world  are  mine,  and  on  whomsoever 
I  will  I  can  bestow  them.  Behold,  all  these  will  I 
give  thee,  if  thou  wilt  fall  down  and  worship  me." 
Crowds  are  represented  as  listening,  and  the  rich, 
and  the  learned,  and  the  mighty,  and  the  light- 
hearted,  and  the  jovial,  are  there— all  the  lovers  of 
pleasure  more  than  lovers  of  God ;  and  the  gifts  of 
Antichrist  are  borne  away,  and  his  service  is  lauded 
to  the  skies  ;  too  loudly  indeed,  for  the  skies  hear  at 
length,  and  send  a  fearful  answer.  The  temple  of 
God  meanwhile  is  taken  possession  of  by  Mammon, 
his  soldiers  keep  guard  that  none  may  enter  it  un- 
punished, and  the  few  lowly  in  demeanour,  but  re- 
solved and  faithful  in  heart,  who  have  tried  to  enter, 
and  who  were  driven  away  and  cast  out,  are  either 
looking  up  to  heaven  in  unpitied  misery  and  desti- 
tution, or  are  sealing  their  imprudent  testimony 
against  the  evil  one  with  their  blood.  Antichrist  is 
triumphant,  and  the  martyrs  are  seen  in  many  parts 
of  the  picture  fallen  and  lifeless,  a  sport  to  their 

enemies. 

Then  comes  the  next  compartment,  in  which 
the  voice  of  their  blood  is  heard  on  high,  and 
the  heaven  opens,  and  the  archangel  descends,  and 
Antichrist  is  hurled  into  the  bottomless  abyss, 
whence  he  can  rise  to  deceive  the  nations  no  more. 
Then  follows  the  general  resurrection,  a  wonderful 
compartment,  or,  as  I  began  to  read  it,  canto.  Luca 
Signorelli  has  imagined  that  according  to  a  person's 
good  or  bad  deeds  in  this  world,  would  be  his  per- 

7 


CLUSIUM. 


436 


fection  or  deformity  at  the  last  day.  Some,  there- 
fore, are  grinning  skulls,  and  naked  cross-bones, 
hideously  feeling  about  for  their  remaining  mem- 
bers ;  others  are  bony  skeletons,  lifting  up  their 
skinless  and  uncovered  faces  towards  their  dreaded 
Judge, 


it 


The  sightless  eyeball  on  which  he  will  never  pour  the  day," 


and  the  yawning  hungry  jaw  which  will  now  never 
feed  upon  the  long  offered,  long  rejected  tree 
of  life.  The  tongue,  if  such  there  be,  is  parched 
and  dried  up  in  the  roofless,  moistless  palate,  and 
can  express  fear  and  horror  only,  of  all  the 
many  passions  for  which  it  once  found  utterance. 
These  faces  cannot  speak,  they  cannot  give  forth 
even  one  single  cry  for  the  mercy  which  was  for  so 
many  years  within  their  power,  but,  being  uncared 
for  or  despised,  is  now  turned  to  wrath.  Others  are 
represented  as  half  clothed,  but  not  daring  to  look 
up  to  the  heavenly  Judge,— others  are  rising  from 
the  tomb  with  clasped  hands,  and  the  agony  of 
despair  depicted  in  their  countenances,  for  they  see 
that  glory  is  never  to  be  their  lot.  Truly  is  it  a 
picture  of''  some  who  rise  to  shine  like  the  sun  in 
the  kingdom  of  their  Father,  and  of  others  whose 
portion  is  shame  and  everlasting  contempt." 

The  blessed  seem  all  to  recognise  each  other,  and 
the  condemned  to  be  occupied  with  themselves. 
Among  many  raptured  faces  are  three  of  a  beauty 
which  even  Eaphael  never  excelled,  of  perfect  and 
graceful  forms,  a  man  and  two  women,  perhaps  his 

u  2 


436 


CLUSIUM. 


CLUSIUM. 


437 


sister  and  his  wife,  in  which  it  is  hard  to  say  whether 
the  expression  is  most  touching  of  human  affection, 
or  of  divine  and  grateful  love.  It  is  a  tender,  holy, 
and  inspired  joy,  in  which  every  one  may  sympathise, 
and  which  every  one  must  envy.  This  was  the  first 
group  that  arrested  our  attention  on  entering  the 
chapel,  and  we  said,  "  Oh  !  there  are  Raphael's 
three  Graces,  we  will  look  at  them  afterwards* 
let  us  examine  Signorelli's  works  first  f'  upon  which 
we  turned  to  the  opposite  wall.  As  we  made 
this  remark  in  English,  our  guide  did  not  un- 
derstand us,  and  took  no  notice;  but  when  we 
came  to  it  under  his  direction,  the  whole  proved 
to  be  by  the  same  hand,  and  was  indeed  Signorelli's 
masterpiece.  Raphael  and  his  master  Ghirlandajo 
are  said  to  have  spent  hours  and  days  here  in  study- 
ing it,  and  had  Signorelli  executed  this  group  only, 
and  nothing  else,  it  would  have  been  suflScient  to 
have  ranked  him  with  the  first  of  painters.  I  must 
say  of  the  pictures  in  this  glorious  chapel,  that  the 
conception  of  them  without  the  execution,  or  the 
execution  of  them  without  the  conception,  were 
either  of  them  alone  sufficient  to  have  immortalised 
any  man. 

There  was  another  singular  group  in  this  picture, 
besides  the  three  figures  just  described,  consisting 
of  two  brothers,  the  one  risen,  and  the  other  rising 
by  his  aid,  when  between  them  appear  the  despair- 
ing, howling,  unclothed  skull,  chest,  and  arms  of 
one  condemned.  It  is  wonderful  how  the  artist  has 
contrived  to  mingle  with  the  joy  of  meeting  each 


i 


other  upon  the  eve  of  glory,  their  horror  at  this  un- 
expected sight.  The  next  compartment,  of  inferior 
interest,  is  the  closing  scene;  but  it  wants  indivi- 
duality, and  therefore  everything  which  could  ex- 
cite in  us  fellow  feelings.  It  was  the  reception  of 
the  good  into  life  and  happiness,  and  the  banish- 
ment of  the  wicked  into  never-ending  misery.  The 
roof  is  the  representation  of  the  highest  amongst 
human  beatified  spirits  in  the  kingdom  of  glory.  In 
one  compartment  are  the  patriarchs,  in  the  second 
the  apostles  and  evangelists,  in  the  third  are  the 
martyrs,  and  in  the  fourth  the  chief  saints  and 
doctors  of  the  church.  The  culminating  point  is 
the  crowning  of  the  Virgin,  as  the  first  of  created 
beings,  beneath  the  emblems  of  the  Trinity.  The 
painting  of  these  compartments  is  exquisite,  with 
the  light,  the  sweetness,  the  softness,  and  the  holi- 
ness which  peculiarly  mark  the  pure  and  lovely 
paintings  of  the  Beato  Angelico  di  Fiesole. 

I  have  heard  that  the  story  of  these  frescos, 
according  to  the  real  meaning  of  their  author,  is 
published,  and  that  many  of  the  countenances  are 
portraits — which  last  I  do  not  doubt ;  but  we  could 
not  procure  the  book,  if  such  exists,  and  our  guide 
professed  to  know  nothing  about  it.  I  have  given 
this  description  according  to  our  understanding  of 
it,  and  in  the  sense  which  I  think  it  must  convey  to 
every  one  who  has  no  written  guide,  and  who  is  not 
told  that  such  and  such  particular  groups  had  ori- 
ginally some  other  meaning.  Some  of  the  frescos 
are  much  faded,  but  the  two  grand  scenes  of  the 


I 


f 


438 


CLUSIUM. 


CLUSIUM. 


439 


Resurrection  and  the  preaching  of  Antichrist  are  in 
perfect  preservation;  and,  to  the  honour  of  the  clergy 
and  people,  all  that  does  remain  is  most  carefully 
preserved. 

After  leaving  Orvieto,  we  travelled  by  a  good 
but  very  hilly  road  to  Monte  Leone,  where  we 
baited  our  horses,  and  thence  on  to  Citta  della  Pieve, 
which  stands  as  usual  on  the  summit  of  a  steep  hill. 
We  went  almost  the  whole  way  at  a  foot's  pace 
through  rich  forests  and  well-cultivated  land,  but  it 
tired  us,  from  a  want  of  variety  and  a  want  of  water. 
One  pretty  little  village,  which  we  saw  upon  a 
height  above  us,  contained  a  large,  and  from  its  im- 
posing appearance  I  should  imagine  a  government 
establishment  of  baths.  It  is  full  durins:  the  season, 
but  for  what  complaints  it  is  frequented  I  know 
not.  Citta  della  Pieve  commands  a  very  exten- 
sive and  map-like  view  over  a  romantic  country 
in  which  water  is  abundant,  for  thence  may  be 
seen  the  lakes  of  Chiusi,  Castiglione,  and  Viterbo. 
It  is  a  very  poor  place,  but,  as  usual  in  Italy,  contains 
some  splendid  pictures,  chiefly  by  Pietro  Perugino, 
who  was  born  here.  The  finest  of  these  pictures  is 
a  fresco,  which  was  painted  by  him  for  the  town,  and 
presented  by  the  town  to  the  church.  It  stands  in 
the  oratory  of  S.  Marco,  and  beneath  it  are  en- 
shrined two  of  his  letters  relating  to  the  picture, 
which  are  curious  enough,  and  will  repay  the  trouble 
of  deciphering,  from  the  insight  they  give  into  the 
taste  and  ideas  of  his  day.  They  stipulate  the  sum 
for  which  it  is  to  be  executed,  and  the  time  in  which 


\ 


I 


it  is  to  be  finished,  in  order  to  be  ready  for  his  birth- 
day. The  subject  of  the  picture  is  the  Adoration  of 
the  Magi,  and  the  painting  is  worthy  of  the  man 
whom  Raphael  imitated  for  many  a  year  before  he 
could  surpass.  The  churches  of  San  Agostino  and 
S.  Antonio,  and  the  cathedral,  contain  also  pictures 
by  Perugino  worth  seeing,  and  in  the  latter  there 
is  a  dead  Christ  by  another  artist,  which  in  my 
esteem  came  next  in  excellence  to  the  celebrated 
fresco  of  the  Adoration.  The  view  from  S.  Antonio 
is  exquisitely  lovely,  and  we  walked  round  from  it 
to  Santa  Maria,  but  it  did  not  repay  the  trouble, 
for  we  saw  nothing  new,  and  only  gave  ourselves 
unnecessary  fatigue. 

Chiusi  is  not  more  than  six  miles  from  Citta 
della  Pieve,  and  the  country  between  them  is  a  para- 
dise. Its  situation,  however,  disappointed  me,  hav- 
ing expected  something  still  more  imposing  than 
Orvieto,  because  it  is  a  place  much  more  celebrated. 
There  is  a  resemblance  between  them,  but  the  ascent 
to  Chiusi  is  more  gradual ;  there  are  several  mounts 
round  it  which  appear  to  form  part  of  it,  and  its 
cliffs  are  far  less  bold  than  those  of  Orvieto.  Yet  it 
has  the  advantage  of  standing  upon  a  beautiful  lake, 
and  from  the  water  I  dare  say  it  presents  a  very 
striking  and  noble  appearance.  Upon  entering 
Chiusi,  we  looked  down  upon  the  Chiana  or  Clanis, 
where,  like  the  Tiber,  its  yellow  waves  have  often 
rolled  ruddy  with  Etruscan  blood,  and  upon  the 
lakes  of  Perugia  and  of  Chiusi ;  and  we  were  not 


440 


CLUSIUM. 


CLUSIUM. 


441 


unmoved  as  we  drove  into  the  once  illustrious 
capital  of  Porsenna,  and,  during  his  days,  the  richest 
and  most  powerful  city  of  Etruria. 

On  arriving  at  the  inn,  we  were  agreeably  sur- 
prised to  find  it  so  very  tolerable ;  and  though  it  is 
not  by  any  means  one  of  the  first  in  Italy,  no  one 
who  goes  there  need  fear  either  want  of  sleep  or 
want  of  food  during  the  three  entire  days  which  he 
must  lodge  in  it,  if  he  wishes  to  do  Chiusi  justice. 
The  people  were  clean  and  civil,  and  our  greatest 
perplexity  was  an  amazing  scarcity  of  seats  when 
the  canons  of  the  place  were  kind  enough  to  call 
upon  us,  and  wished  to  inspect  some  of  our  curi- 
osities. We  were  then  obliged  to  put  tables  into 
requisition  to  supply  the  place  of  benches  ;  but  when 
Chiusi  becomes  more  visited,  its  furniture  will  natu- 
rally become  more  plentiful. 

In  consequence  of  letters,  we  fared  well  as  to  the 
object  of  our  visit,  and  saw  much  which  I  am  sorry  to 
mangle  by  very  imperfect  description.  We  found 
amongst  the  canons  a  considerable  society  of  learned 
and  gentlemanly  men,  and  we  were  equally  de- 
lighted with  their  conversation  and  their  courtesy. 

No  sooner  had  we  completed  our  arrangements 
with  the  padrone  of  our  hotel,  than,  with  a  view  to 
make  the  most  of  our  limited  time,  we  set  out  in 
quest  of  such  objects  of  curiosity  as  did  not  require 
full  daylight.  We  sent  our  compliments  to  those  of 
the  clergy  who,  we  were  informed,  possessed  the  best 
antiquarian  collections,  and  from  whom  we  were,  at 


I 


v 
\ 


ii 


all  events,  sure  of  a  greeting  full  of  kindness  and 
urbanity,  and  a  ready  answer  to  our  queries  concern- 
ing the  marvels  of  their  native  city.  Our  message 
received  an  immediate  answer  of  much  politeness, 
and  we  set  out  on  our  little  tour  of  evening  visits. 

Our  cicerone  first  conducted  us  to  the  house  of  a 
priest,   in   whom    we    discovered    a   corresponding 
member  of  the  A  rchseological  Society,  and  on  vvhom 
the  names  of  Braun  and  Lepsius  produced  a  talis- 
manic  effect.     He  immediately  unlocked  the  little 
store  of  curiosities  which  from  time  to  time  he  had 
collected,  and  parts  of  which  he  had  no  objection, 
for  he  was  not  rich,  to  resign  to  the  curious  stranger. 
We  saw  many  singular  and  beautiful  sarcophagi, 
with  figured  lids,  and  with  sides  covered  with  bassi 
relievi  and  inscriptions.     One  in  particular  attracted 
our  attention  from  its  entire   novelty,  I  may  say 
whimsicality  ;  and  it  must  have  been  a  fashion  pecu- 
liar to  northern  Etruria,  as  we  never  saw  it  else- 
where :  though  in  Clusium,  we  found,  that  was  not 
uncommon.     It  gave  me  the  absurd  idea  of"  every 
man  his  own  cofiin !"     A  recumbent  funereal  figure 
as  large  as  life,  and  not  unlike  the  sculptured  lid  of 
a  sarcophagus,  lay  on  the  ground.     The  priest  ap- 
proached it,  and    unscrewed  the   head,  which  ap- 
peared to  have  been  a  portrait,  when,  to  our  asto- 
nishment, we  saw  that  the  body  was  filled  with  the 
ashes  of  the  deceased.     The  price  which  was  asked 
for  this,  and  indeed   I  may  say  for  cinerary  urns  in 
general  at  Chiusi,  appeared  to  us  very  moderate 
after  the  sums  for  which  antiquities  of  this  class  are 

u  5 


I 


442 


CLUSIUM. 


sold  in  Rome,  where  they  are  uncommon.  The 
moveable  head  of  this  and  many  other  statues  at 
Chiusi,  showed  me  how  easily  the  statue  of  Juno 
might  have  been  made  to  bend  its  head,  when  Ca- 
millus  entreated  it  to  remove  to  Rome.  It  required 
but  a  slight  shake,  perhaps  only  a  stamp  of  the  foot, 
or  some  sudden  movement  from  an  attendant  stand- 


mg  near. 


We  next  turned  to  the  priest's  collection  of  small 
articles,  particularly  scarabei,  which  are  said  to  be 
finer  and  more  abundant  at  Chiusi  than  elsewhere  ; 
and  we  found  two  very  good  ones  made  of  cornelian, 
which  he  was  willing  to  sell  to  us,  the  one  repre- 
senting the  combat  between  Hercules  and  the 
Hydra,  and  the  other  an  Etruscan  organist,  or  at 
least  a  man  playing  on  an  instrument  more  nearly 
resembling  an  organ  than  anything  else.  These 
he  was  willing  to  sell  to  us,  and  they  were  the  only 
spolia  of  that  nature  which  we  carried  away  from 
Clusium ;  they  were,  however,  opima. 

We  were  next  conducted  to  the  house  of  an  aged 
canon,  who,  with  a  brother  beetle-fancier,  the  vene- 
rable archdeacon  of  the  district,  was  waiting  to 
receive  us.  I  have  seldom  seen  two  more  amiable 
or  benign  old  gentlemen,  full  of  mildness,  urbanity, 
and  information.  They  were  not  long  before  they 
displayed  to  us  their  treasures  in  long  rosaries 
of  scarabei,  all  well  engraved,  some  in  the  highest 
style  of  art,  some  with  very  extraordinary  sub- 
jects, and  several  which  excited  our  covetousness 
with   inscriptions.      It  was   delightful   to  see    the 


1 


CLUSIUM. 


443 


h 


interest  which  the  good  old  men  took  in  the  my- 
thological and  heroic  stories  which  were  engraved 
on  them,  and  to  hear  the  very  ingenious  and  often 
learned  interpretations  of  the  myths  and  allegories 
which  the  difierent  intaglii  represented.  I  think 
the  one  possessed  eighty,  and  the  other  a  hun- 
dred ;  collections  in  which  they  not  a  little  prided 
themselves,  and  they  were  very  much  astonished 
when  we  told  them,  that  we  had  almost  as  many 
as  both  put  together, — not  indeed  so  select,  but  all 
genuine,  a  fact  they  doubted,  and  of  which  they 
were  not  convinced  until  after  a  careful  examination 
and  scrutiny  of  them  in  our  rooms  the  following 
day.  They  then  recognised  many  as  old  acquaint- 
ances, originally  Chiusian,  and  which  had  belonged 
to  the  late  Prince  Vidoni,  and  other  well-known 
collectors. 

In  the  houses  of  these  canons  we  saw  vases  of  all 
forms,  shapes,  sizes,  and  styles;  from  the  plain 
coarse  urns  of  Veii  to  the  shining  stamped  black 
jars  of  Volterra,  the  eye-painted  vases  of  Vulci,  and 
the  tall  and  slender  forms  of  Basilicata  and  Rua,  in 
Magna  Grecia.  They  were  all,  however,  found  at 
Chiusi,  and,  to  my  eyes,  were  none  of  them  equal,  in 
fineness  of  enamel  or  material,  to  the  best  of  those 
we  had  seen  in  the  south.  Quantities  of  them  could 
be  distinguished  from  Egyptian,  only  because  of 
their  locality,  and  are  so  like,  that  many  learned 
men  maintain  them  to  be  genuine  Egyptian,  and 
to  have  been  brought  hither  by  commerce.  The 
types  of  them  certainly  were  thus  imported,  as  the 


444 


CLUSIUM. 


models  of  our  porcelain  were  from  China.     We  saw 
lamps,    lachrymatories,    tiles,    water-ducts,    votive 
offerings,  and  another  object,  which  was  to  me  so 
new  that  I  took  it  to  be  modern.     I  saw  upon   the 
priest's  sideboard  what  I  supposed  to  be  a  dejeune 
of  Wedgwood  ware,  and  I  conjectured  that  it  had 
been  presented  to  him   by  some  English  traveller 
who  had  been  obliged  for  the  same  civilities  which 
we  were  then    receiving.       Whilst,   therefore,    my 
more  learned  and  scientific  companions  were  look- 
ing over  some  bronzes,  I  stole  up  to  examine  it,  and 
to  convince  myself  whether  or  not  I  was  right.     It 
consisted   of  a   small   and    well-finished   tray,    the 
handles   of  which   were  worked  in  heads  exactly 
like  two  of  our  own   vases  found   at  Paestum,  and 
this  tray  was  filled   with  a  variety  of  small  cups 
and  sugar-basins,  and  utensils  which  were  certainly 
not  English,  and  of  which  I  could  not  make  out 
the  use.     For  a  dejeune  there  was   neither  tea  nor 
coffee-pot,  so  I  tried  if  the  vessels  would  answer 
for  a  writing-stand,  or  for  a  cruet-stand,  or  for  a 
toilet-table.      None,  however,  would  suit  exactly. 
For  tne  one  purpose  they  were  too  few,  for  the 
other  too  many,  and  the  forms  all  ran  riot.     Ac- 
cordingly, ashamed  to  show  that  I  did  not  know 
what  to  make  of  the  thing,  nor  whether  it  were 
ancient  or  modern,  I   looked  out  of  the  window, 
praised  two  or  three  prints  in  the  room,  and  then 
asked    with    a   careless  air   what    was    the    use   of 
that  china-stand  upon  the  buffet.     The  good  priest 
smiled,  and  said  it  was  a  focolare  which  he  had  got 


CLUSIUM. 


445 


r 


v 

t 


1 


out  of  a  scavo  a  few  weeks  before  !     I  forgot  all  my 
prudence,  and  exclaimed,  "  So  it  really  does  come 
from    a   tomb,   and   it  is  ancient!     How   extraor- 
dinary !    I  took  it  for  a  Wedgwood  dejeune."     We 
then  proceeded  to  examine  it,  and  he  told  us  that  it 
was  often  called  also  a  "  recipiente,"  and  that  it  was 
common  in  the  tombs  at  Chmsi,  standing  beside  the 
corpse  or  cinerary  urns.     He  supposed  that  it  had 
contained   offerings  for  the  dead,  and  the  vessels 
consisted  of  what  I  had  christened  two  tea-caddies 
with  covers,    one  sugar-basin,  two  pestles  with  a 
mortar,  two  spoons,  and  one  vase,  the  top  of  which 
was  a  cock's  head.     Our  friend  thought  this  sym- 
bolical, as  a  cock  watches  for  the   dawn.     We  saw 
many  more  of  these  afterwards,  and  they  are  such 
pretty  and  elegant  pieces  of  furniture,  that  on  our 
return   home   we   were  much  disappointed  not  to 
find  any  of  them  in  the  British  Museum.     Indeed 
the    Etruscan    collection    there  is  very    poor    and 

incomplete. 

In  the  houses  we  visited  we  saw  several  cinerary 
urns  and  a  quantity  of  sculpture  and  basso  relievo 
in  marble  alabaster,  and  in  a  pretty  white  stone 
with  a  disagreeable  smell,  called  fetid  limestone. 
On  one  marble  urn  was  sculptured  the  scene  which 
has  interested  us  so  much  in  the  Camera  del  Morto 
at  Tarquinia,  and  it  is  not  a  rare  subject  in  this 
part  of  Italy.  What  keeps  up  the  interest  is,  that 
all  the  faces  are  portraits,  and  that,  in  every  repe- 
tition of  the  subject,  the  countenances  and  the 
adjuncts  of  the  scene  are  different.     It  struck  us 


446 


CLUSIUM. 


with  extreme  astonishment,  because  it  was  so  like 
some    picture    of  the  present  day,  before  we  had 
begun  to  criticize  minute  particularities,  and  before 
we  had  considered  that  death  and  burial,  human 
sorrow  and  human  affections,  were  as  common  in 
the  days  of  the  flood  as  they  are  now.     I  know  not 
why  it  is  that  we  are  so  habitually  creatures  of  the 
present,  and  that  we  seem  to  feel  as  if  all   wisdom, 
and  decency,  and  civilization,  were  centred  in  our- 
selves, or  our  own  times,  looking  with  astonishment 
at  marks  of  the  same  feelings  evinced  in  the  same 
manner  by  those  of  our  own  nature  who  passed 
their  trials  amid  the  same  materials   some  thousand 
years  ago,  instead  of  remembering  that  every  as- 
piration and  every  talent  found  amongst  us  must 
have   existed   amongst  them   also.     They  had  not 
indeed  Christianity,  but  they  had  the  firm  belief  of 
a  future  state,  their  continued  happiness  or  misery 
in  which  was  to  be  decided  by  their  conduct  here  ; 
and  how  few  are  there  amongst  the  mass,  even  of 
Protestant  Christians,  who  know  any  more,  or  who 
ever  testify  to  the   world,   except   by  one  or   two 
forms,  that  they  have  any  other  faith  !    Many  and 
many  an  accomplished   and  highly  educated  Eng- 
lishman  speaks  and  acts  as  if    Christianity    had 
nothing   to   do   with    his   future   being;    and   this 
because,  while  he  is  instructed  in  all  other  thino-s, 
religion    forms  no  part  of  his  education.     In  the 
common    intercourse  of   high    life,  Christianity  is 
treated  as  a  very  proper  respectable  set  of  customs, 
bnt  it  is  too   often  considered  to  be  as  little  of  a 


I 


CLUSIUM. 


447 


I 


III 


\ 


reality,  and  as  truly  a  superstition,  as  any  of  the 
notions  of  the  heathen.  Will  not  the  men  and 
women  of  these  monuments  rise  up  against  us  at 
the  last  day,  along  with  the  Queen  of  the  South 
and  the  men  of  Nineveh,  if  we  make  no  more 
intimate  and  accurate  acquaintance  with  the  ways 
of  Heaven  than  they  here  displayed  ! 

These  reflections  were  forced  upon  me  by  what  I 
saw  in  the  house  of  a  Roman   Catholic  priest,  and 
whilst  I  looked  at  him  in  his  peculiar  dress,  I  could 
not  but  acknowledge  that,  however  much  I  might 
difier   from   him    in  many    points    of  faith,  these 
remarks  did  certainly  not  apply  to  Roman  Catholics. 
They  are  not  ashamed  to  profess  loudly  and  pub- 
licly upon  every  occasion,  that  they  are  not,   and 
cannot  be  saved  like  the  heathen  ;  that  their  depen- 
dence is  not  upon  themselves  and  their  own  merits, 
but  upon  another,  and  upon  that,   which  may  have 
merit  as  done   upon  his  account.     Having    made 
Christ  the  corner-stone,  without  which  there  is  no 
building,  they  have  indeed  almost  concealed  it  by 
the  supererogation,  purgatory,  and  so  forth,  built 
thereupon ;   but    however  much   the  Roman  Ca- 
tholic church  may  have  hid  the  wine  and  oil  of  the 
Scriptures,  it  has  never  put  them  away.     I  know 
that  this  has  no  more  to  do  with  Chiusi  than  with 
Babylon,   had    I  been   standing    with    a    Roman 
Catholic  priest  upon  the   banks  of  the  Euphrates, 
but  it  may  not  be  amiss  for  us  anywhere  to  con- 
sider upon  what  our  hopes  of  future  happiness  are 
built ;  and   in  what  they  differ  from  the    heathen 


448 


CLUSIUM. 


CLUSIUM. 


449 


who  were  before  us,  and  from  our  brethren  around 
us  whom  we  condemn. 

Near  the  Camera  del  Morto  lay  another  very 
beautiful  cinerary  monument,  which  I  took  for  a 
sarcophagus ;  it  was  made  of  fetid  limestone,  a  sub- 
stance which  looks  like  inferior  and  unpolishable 
marble.  The  lid  was  composed  of  the  figure  of  the 
deceased,  a  young  noble  in  the  arms  of  the  genius 
of  death:  below  him  lay  a  dog,  perhaps  to  signify 
fidelity  to  the  last,  and  that  he  was  faithful  to  his 
country  until  snatched  away  by  death.  In  the 
hands  of  the  half-raised  figure  is  a  vase,  the  cover 
of  which  lifts  off  and  discloses  the  ashes  of  the  per- 
son holdino^  them. 

There  are  a  vast  number  of  tombs  at  Chiusi,  but 
I  shall  only  describe  five,  because  they  are  sufficient 
samples  of  all  the  rest,  and  because  each  of  these 
five  was  to  us  an  object  of  interest  which  we  should 
have  been  sorry  to  have  left  the  place  without  see- 
ing, and  which  we  should  certainly  revisit,  if  ever 
we  found  ourselves   there  again.      They   lie   wide 
from  each  other,  as  Chiusi  appears  to  have  had  its 
necropolis  on  three  sides  of  the  town,  and  therefore 
we  hired  a  caritella  of  a  more  convenient  and  less 
dislocating   sort    than    any    we    had    found    in    the 
Roman  states,  and  took  a  guide  of  sufficient  prac- 
tical knowledge  to  lead  our  car  the  way  it  should 
go.     We  passed  some  very  large  and  curious  tumuli 
close  to  the  town,  and  had  a  beautiful  drive  of  about 
a  mile  and  a  half  into  a  wild  wood,  where  we  dis- 
mounted and  had  to  wait  until  another  guide  could 


M 


f 


be  procured,  who  was  the  accredited  guardian  ot 
this  tomb,  called, 

"  GROTTA  DELLE  MONACHE," 
VAULT  OF  THE  NUNS. 

We  walked  for  a  few  hundred  yards  by  the  side 
of  a  low  hill,  and  then  came  to  the  porch  of  the 
tomb      It  had  a  strong  wooden  door  fixed  there  by 
the  government,  and  kept  by  this  man  under   a 
strono;  lock.     We  entered  and  saw  a  low  vaulted 
chamber  hewn  in  the  rock,  after  the  manner  of  Tar- 
quinia,  with  an  inner  chamber  of  smaller  dimen- 
sions, and  which  had  two  false  doors  painted,  one 
on  each  side.     Both  the  chambers  had  a  broad  ledge 
all  round  them,  and  the  two  together  contained  six- 
teen coffins.     One  was  a  very  large  old  Etruscan 
sarcophagus,  with  a  sculptured  lid  lying  by  itself 
upon  an  upper  shelf.     It  was  quite  empty,  though 
its  tenant  must  once  have  been  the  chief  person 
buried  here,  and  he  most  likely  was  the  maker  of 
the   tomb ;  now  he  appeared  as  a  triton  amongst 
minnows,  for  his  was  the  only  coffin,  according  to 
our  acceptation  of  the  term  ;  the  rest  were  all  cine- 
rary chests,  and  urns,  many  with  the  ashes  remain- 
ing in  them  as  they  were  at  first  found,  and  to  the 
best  of  my  memory,  all  of  marble  or  alabaster.     In 
several  of  the  other  tombs  we  saw  chests  of  traver- 
tine, limestone,  and  coarse  clay,  mingled  with  the 
alabaster  and  marble ;  but  whatever  might  be  the 
material,    they  almost   all   had   inscriptions    upon 
them  in   the   Etruscan   character,  and   several   of 


}  1 


450 


CLUSIUM. 


CLUSIUM. 


451 


those  we  saw  in  the  Grotta  delle  Monache  had  upon 
them,  in  addition,  carving  in  a  style  which  struck 
us  dumb  with  amazement.     The  subjects  were  races 
and  combats;    or  scenes  from  the  Iliad.     Two  of 
these  latter  in  basso  relievo  we  much  coveted,  for 
they  were  of  a  spirit  and  beauty  rare  even  amongst 
the  Greeks.     We  intimated  our  wish  to  purchase 
them  ;  but  though  there  were  six  small  chests  with 
fixed  prices,  ridiculously  low,  which  we  might  have 
taken  away  with  us,  the  two  we  wished  for,  one  of 
which  represented  the  death  of  Hector,  it  appeared 
could  not  be  disposed  of  without  some  weeks   of 
trouble,   and   our   days   in    Italy   were   numbered. 
First,  the  nuns  to  whom  the  Grotta  belonged  must 
be  consulted,  and  then  if  they  were  willing  to  make 
the  sale,  they  must  notify  the  same  to  the  grand 
duke,  and  he  must  send  a  person  down  to  visit  the 
vaults  and  examine  the  objects  in  question,  and  re- 
port to  him  if  they  were  such  as  he  might  permit  to 
be  removed  without  detriment  to  Chiusi.     The  mo- 
ment we  heard  this  we  gave  up  the  idea  of  purchase, 
for  we  had  no  hope  that  any  time  or  influence  would 
engage  the  grand  duke  to  part  with  such  monu- 
ments as  these,  and  scarcely  indeed  a  wish  that  he 
should  do  so,  for  who  cannot  but  admire  in  a  sove- 
reign,  the   spirit   of  a  protector  of  science  and  a 
patriot,  and  wish  that  all  monarchs  were  the  same? 
This  sepulchre  is  said  to  have  been  discovered  by 
a  peasant,  who  dreamed  that  he  was  wandering  at 
night  beneath  the  hill,  and  could  not  find  his  way ; 
suddenly  he  turned  into  the  porch  where  we  stood, 


\ 


and,  after  repeated  endeavours,  succeeded  in  open- 
ing the  door,  when,  to  his  horror,  he  found  himself 
in  a  tomb.  Whether  he  conversed  with  its  inmates 
and  discovered  their  secret  history,  or  whether  from 
fear  he  remained  as  mute  as  they,  I  do  not  know, 
but  he  awoke,  and  behold  it  was  a  dream !  He 
slept  and  dreamed  the  same  thing  a  second  time, 
with  the  addition  of  finding  treasure  of  some  de- 
scription with  which  he  enriched  himself.  He 
awoke,  fell  asleep  again,  and  a  third  time  dreamed 
the  same  thing.  The  following  afternoon  he  came 
down  to  this  spot,  cleared  away  some  earth  and 
brushwood,  and  found  one-half  of  his  dream  exactly 
as  it  had  appeared  to  him  in  sleep  ;  but  I  forget  whe- 
ther he  obtained  a  reward  from  the  convent,  or  made 
away  with  some  few  articles  which  he  sold  at  a 
distance,  and  for  which  he  was  outlawed.  Dreams, 
it  would  seem,  are  a  common  way  of  discovering 
tombs  at  Chiusi  amongst  the  peasants,  and  we  heard 
many  stories  of  the  sort  with  different  endings. 

We  had  mismanaged  so  ill  as  not  to  engage  any  of 
the  canons  to  accompany  us  in  this  day's  tour,  and 
therefore  it  was  vain  to  endeavour  to  ascertain  in 
any  satisfactory  manner  the  age  of  this  tomb,  or  of 
any  of  the  tombs,  for  neither  of  our  guides  bore  any 
resemblance  to  Agapeto,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
Gonfaloniere  Avolta.  The  Grotta  delle  Monache 
contained  dead,  both  buried  and  burnt,  probably 
many  successive  generations  of  the  same  family,  and 
all  the  writing  in  it  was  Etruscan.  The  sculpture 
differed  in  degrees  of  merit  about  as  widely  as  can 


^ 


I 


452 


CLUSIUM. 


be  conceived,  from  the  sublime  to  the  almost  gro- 
tesque, and  the  two  urns  we  so  much   wished  to 
possess,  must  either  be  specimens  of  the  most  flou- 
rishing time  of  Etruria,  i.  e.  before  the  foundation 
of  Rome  and   during   its  first  three  kings,  or  they 
must  be  the  work  of  artists  in  the  days  of  Augustus. 
They  are  of  a  beauty  which  I  have  scarcely  ever 
seen  exceeded.     There  were  no  other  ornaments  in 
this  tomb,  and  no  paintings  except  the  false  doors. 
Chiusi  existed  long  after  it  was  subject  to  Rome 
governed  by  its  own  laws,  and  containing  its  own 
noble  families;    and   therefore  its  tombs,   like   all 
those  of  ancient  date  in  the  present  Tuscany,  have 
probably  been   used  through  a  long  succession  of 
ages,  and  may  have  contained  the  bones  of  many 
whose  career  was  run  far  from  them. 

We  left  this  drive  to  another  tomb  about  a  mile 
further  off,  called 

DEPOSITO    DEGLl    DEI  : 

This  being  the  name  of  the  family  on  whose  ground 
It  stands.  In  front  of  this  we  waited  for  many 
minutes,  until  a  woman,  who  lived  in  a  queer  look- 
ing little  cottage  near,  could  be  at  sufficient  leisure 
to  bring  us  the  key,  and  I  could  not  help  thinking 
how  nicely  drenched  we  should  have  been  without 
any  shelter,  had  an  Italian  thunder-plump  come  on 
whilst  we  were  waiting  at  each  separate  tomb  for 
Its  own  separate  guide.  When  our  little  woman  did 
come,  she  was  very  civil,  and  opened  the  door  for  us 
m  all  due  form,  knowing  about  as  much  of  the  his- 


\ 


CLUSIUM. 


453 


\ 


tory  of  the  tomb  as  the  chickens  at  her  cottage- 
door.  All  she  could  inform  us  was,  that  it  had  be- 
longed to  the  ancients,  and  that  there  were  pictures 
of  it  in  Chiusi,  but  whether  for  purchase  or  not  she 
could  not  say.  This  tomb  consists  of  three  cham- 
bers, the  first  being  the  largest.  The  bodies  and 
the  ashes  are  deposited  in  the  back  and  side  cham- 
bers, each  entering  by  an  Egyptian  formed  door, 
and  having  a  ledge  all  round.  I  think  that  each 
chamber  contained  in  it  only  one  large  sarcophao-us 
in  the  old  Etruscan  fashion,  besides  numerous 
cliests,  generally  square,  and  of  various  sizes,  but 
all  filled  with  ashes,  and  all  sculptured  with  more 
or  less  art.  In  some  instances  they  were  piled  upon 
each  other,  and  here,  as  in  the  Monache,  the  very 
inferior  ones  were  for  sale  at  stated  and  very  low 
prices,  but  they  did  not  tempt  us,  after  having  seen 
the  unpurchaseable  specimens  of  such  very  superior 
merit.  They  were  of  travertine,  terra  cotta,  marble, 
and  fetid  limestone,  which  last  is  a  yery  pretty  ma- 
terial, but  very  brittle.  Opposite  the  door  of  the 
side-chamber  is  a  false  door,  painted  like  those  at 
Tarquinia,  and  for  the  same  purpose ;  that  is,  the 
appearance  of  uniformity.  The  back  chamber  has 
red  and  blue  lines  painted  round  it,  but  the  side- 
chamber  is  unpainted.  The  front  is  supported  by 
a  beam  across,  as  we  had  seen  in  so  many  other 
tombs  hewn  out  of  the  tufo,  and  on  each  side  of  the 
beam  is  that  ornament  introduced  into  Roman 
architecture,  towards  the  end  of  the  republic,  and 
called  perspective  squares,  consisting  of  a  number 


454 


CLUSIUM. 


of  concentric  squares,  diminishing  in  size  as  they  go 
deeper  into  the  stone. 

The  walls  have  a  deep  rude  cornice  in  red  and 
blue  in  this  sort  of  pattern  .C^^j^\r\r\r\ri »  and 
beneath  this  comes  a  frieze  of  figures,  which  has 
gone  all  round,  and  may  be  from  fourteen  to 
eighteen  inches  high.  They  are  much  smaller  and 
much  coarser  than  the  paintings  at  Tarquinia ;  like 
them  they  are  upon  a  sand  coating,  which  covers 
the  tufo,  and  upon  which  the  subjects  have  been 
traced  when  it  was  wet;  like  them,  parts  have 
fallen,  and  much  is  considerably  faded — but  unlike 
them,  that  which  does  remain,  is  most  carefully  and 
jealously  preserved.  Those  who  visit  Chiusi  twenty 
years  hence,  will  probably  see  them  as  perfect  as 
they  are  now;  whilst  those  who  visit  Tarquinia  in 
1841  will  not  see  all  the  figures  and  the  colours  which 
we  saw  in  1839.  The  subjects  in  the  Deposito  Dei 
were,  horse  and  chariot-races,  a  triclinium,  leap-frog, 
wrestling,  players  upon  the  double-flute  and  lyre, 
and  foot-races ;  bringing  to  our  minds  Rosellini's  ac- 
count of  the  tombs  cut  out  of  the  rock  at  Beni 
Hassan,  of  the  same  form,  and  containing  the  same 
subjects. 

Near  this  tomb  there  is  another  somewhat  larger, 
but  of  the  same  character,  discovered  in  1734,  and 
so  very  similar,  that  we  did  not  think  it  worth 
our  while  to  visit  it,  as  we  were  pressed  for  time : 
our  guide  said  that  it  consisted  also  of  three  cham- 
bers, and  had  athletic  games  all  round  the  walls, 
such  as  pugilism  to  the  sound  of  the  double-flute, 


CLUSIUM. 


455 


wrestling,  before  well-dressed  spectators,  chariot- 
races,  &c. 

We  now  remounted  the  caritella,  and  had  a  very 
beautiful  and  varied  drive  by  severy  lofty  tumuli, 
until  we  came  down  to  the  quiet  lake  of  Chiusi,  and, 
after  going  for  some  little  way  along  its  banks,  we 
walked  up  a  very  steep  ascent  to  a  sort  of  cavern, 
like  the  entrance  to  an  English  ice-house,  or  an 
Italian  wine  cellar.  It  was  just  below  a  farm-house 
of  the  grand  duke's,  and,  as  I  supposed,  formed  one 
of  its  many  oflSces.  We  sheltered  ourselves  under 
its  roof  from  the  burning  sun,  and  waited,  as  usual, 
until  the  guide  to  the  sepulchre  we  had  come  to 
see  could  be  procured.  We  expected  to  be  led  into 
the  wood  close  by,  where  there  appeared  to  be,  and 
really  are,  many  very  curious  graves;  but  when  the 
contadino  appeared  with  the  key,  he  came  towards 
us  and  applied  it,  to  our  astonishment,  to  this  very 
wine-cellar,  fitting  it  into  a  padlock  upon  the  door. 

This  tomb  is  called 


DEPOSITO    DEL    GRAN    DUCA, 

because  it  belongs  to  the  grand  duke,  being  found 
upon  his  farm.  It  was  discovered  in  1810,  when 
his  steward  was  searching  for  a  proper  place  in 
which  to  construct  a  wine-vault.  The  contadino 
who  found  it  stole  one  urn  out  of  it,  which  he  sold, 
and  was,  in  consequence,  immediately  condemned  to 
the  galleys.  It  is  this  severe  and  prompt  punish- 
ment which  preserves  the  property  of  Chiusi.  I 
think  this  tomb  surprised  us  the  most  of  all  those 


456 


CLUSIUM. 


we  saw,  it  was  so  wholly  unlike  any  other.  It  con- 
sisted of  one  low  vaulted  chamber  beautifully  and 
regularly  built  in  a  round  arch  of  smooth  rectangu- 
lar and  moderately  sized  stones,  without  cement. 
The  door  was  as  ancient  and  as  uninjured  as  the 
vault,  consisting  of  two  stone  leaves  closing  in  the 
centre,  and  turning  upon  stone  hinges  very  artifi- 
cially inserted  in  the  architrave  and  in  the  floor. 
The  vault  had  a  ledge  all  round  it,  on  which  lay 
eio-ht  funeral  chests  of  travertine.  They  are  usually 
called  cinerary  urns ;  but  Chiusi  has  so  many  real 
urns,  that  I  give  the  name  of  chests  to  all  those 
which  are  rectangular,  and  of  a  chest  or  coffin -form. 
Some  were  of  considerable  size,  but  they  all  con- 
tained ashes,  and  not  bones,  and  they  were  all  co- 
vered with  lids,  and  bore  Etruscan  inscriptions. 
One  or  two  had  sculptured  upon  them  the  winged 
genius  of  death,  his  feet  terminating  in  serpents, 
exactly  like  my  scarabeus,  and  beautifully  executed  ; 
others  of  them  had  Medusa's  head,  and  there  was 
a  third  device,  but  I  have  forgotten  it. 

Near  this  tomb  are  the  catacombs,  subterraneous 
places  of  concealment,  and  burial  of  the  early  Chris- 
tians, closely  resembling  those  of  Rome.  There  is 
a  sort  of  chapel  hollowed  out  in  them,  and  here 
were  found  the  bones  of  the  lady  saint  and  martyr 

Santa,  ,  in    whose  honour  the   cathedral    was 

raised. 

We  returned  towards  Chiusi,  skirting  for  some 
distance  the  Jeweller's  Field,  a  rich  loamy  valley, 
which  lies  low  beneath  the  cliffs  upon  which  the 


CLUSIUM. 


457 


town  stands.  It  is  called  "  Campo  degli  Orefici," 
or  the  Jeweller's  Field,  because,  from  jewels  being 
frequently  found  here,  it  is  supposed  that  the  jewel- 
ler's street  ran,  in  the  olden  time,  either  through 
it  or  above  it.  The  ornaments  found  are  gold  ear- 
rings, brooches,  fibulae,  rings,  chains,  and  scarabei ; 
and  this  is  the  only  place  in  Italy  where  I  ever 
heard  of  scarabei  being  found  otherwise  than  in  the 
tombs.  Chiusi  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  city 
where  the  best  were  engraved  in  the  early  times  of 
Etruria,  and  it  exceeded  all  the  other  towns  of 
Etruscan  Italy  in  engraved  gems,  Vulci  only  ex- 
cepted. The  canons,  whose  collections  we  saw,  had 
several  scarabei  with  inscriptions,  but  none  for  sale ; 
nor  are  they  ever  likely  to  be,  as  they  are  marked 
objects,  and  so  much  prized  in  Italy,  that  some  of 
the  rich  Italian  families  will  secure  them  the  mo- 
ment they  come  into  the  market.  I  have  said  that 
it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  such  objects  in  the 
Campo  degli  Orefici  after  heavy  rains, — and  what  I 
mean  by  "  not  uncommon,"  is,  that  one  or  two  were 
found  there  three  years  ago,  and  no  one  will  be  sur- 
prised at  a  ring  or  brooch  being  again  found  there 
two  or  three  years  hence.  After  reaching  the 
highest  point  of  the  road,  which  goes  by  this  field, 
we  were  again  called  upon  to  dismount,  in  order  to 
walk  through  some  ploughed  fields  down  an  abrupt 
descent  to  the 


DEPOSITO    DIPINTO — THE    PAINTED    VAULT  ! 

The  most  perfectly  preserved,  or  I  perhaps  should 

X 


! 


458 


CLUSIUM. 


say,  the  least  injured  by  time,  of  any  of  the  many 
chambered  sepulchres  we  visited.  Even  this,  how- 
ever, had  a  portion  of  its  paintings  obliterated  by 
damp  before  its  discovery  in  1826.  The  tomb  is 
hollowed  out  of  the  tufo,  but  the  rock  in  one  corner 
had  cracked,  by  which  means  the  rain  had  pene- 
trated and  worked  much  mischief.  We  first  came 
upon  a  narrow  paved  path,  and  then  upon  the  an- 
cient and  unimpaired  door  of  an  old  Etruscan  sepul- 
chre. On  each  side  were  small  chambers,  with  open 
arched  doorways,  like  what  we  had  seen  at  Veii 
and  Monterone,  hewn  out  of  the  tufo,  with  a  ledge 
all  round,  and  which  had  been  appropriated  to  the 
feasts  and  meetings  for  prayer  and  mourning  for  the 

dead. 

The  interesting  old  door  of  the  sepulchre  very 
much  resembled  what  we  had  just  seen  in  the  grand 
duke's  vault,  but  was  still  more  artificial.  The 
tomb  consists  of  three  chambers,  upon  the  same 
plan  with  the  Deposito  Dei,  with  a  false  door  oppo- 
site to  the  entrance  of  the  side-chamber,  and  the 
paintings  are  exactly  of  the  same  character,  only 
laro-er,  better  finished,  and  less  faded.  They  are 
as  interesting  as  those  at  Tarquinia,  for  they  em- 
brace one  or  two  subjects  which  were  new  to  us, 
but  they  are  not  so  well  executed.  The  roof  is 
arched  and  supported  by  a  beam,  on  each  side  of 
which  are  square  compartments  cut  into  the  rock. 
The  ledge  which  goes  all  round,  has  on  it  many 
small  marble  cinerary  chests  with  Etruscan  inscrip- 
tions, and  above  this  is  the  frieze,  containing  the 

8 


CLUSIUM. 


459 


\ 


paintings  distinctive  of  the  tomb,  the  figures  of 
which  may  be  eighteen  inches  high.  First  comes  a 
chariot-race,  consisting  of  three  bigas,  one  of  which 
is  broken  and  overturned,  the  shock  of  the  concus- 
sion having  tossed  the  unfortunate  charioteer  into 
the  air,  whence  he  is  represented  as  falling  down 
head  foremost.  The  victor  is  one  who  has  just 
overshot  the  goal.  Then  follow  the  pedestrian  and 
minor  games.  Two  naked  pugilists  are  boxing  to 
the  sound  of  the  double  flute.  Four  naked  young 
men  are  waiting  the  orders  of  their  master  to  start 
for  the  foot  race,  and  he  appears  to  be  addressing 
them,  carrying  a  staff  in  each  hand,  and  wearing  the 
pallium.  Before  him  are  two  men  engaged  in  ano- 
ther game — they  are  leaping  over  two  sticks  which 
are  balanced  upon  each  other ;  and  upon  the  other 
side-wall  are  dancing  figures,  like  some  of  the 
rope-dancers  from  Herculaneum,  now  in  the  Naples 
Museum.  Two  or  three  men  are  playing  at  ascolie ; 
that  is,  leaping  directly  upon  the  centre  of  a  large 
vase,  the  bowl  of  which  is  very  protuberant,  and  the 
surface  of  which  is  greased  and  slippery.  Here  the 
performer  has  missed  his  step,  and  is  falling  to  the 
ground.  One  man  near  him  seemed  to  me  to  be 
using  dumb-bells— another  is  playing  at  quoits- 
others  at  leap-frog  and  wrestling,  and  at  the  end 
there  is  a  column  like  the  bronze  one  found  at 
Vulci,  with  a  cup  of  oil  upon  the  top  of  it,  for  the 
use  of  the  games ;  and  finally,  a  warrior  throwing 
a  spear  at  a  mark  to  the  sound  of  the  double 
flute.     Probably  other  games  were  represented  upon 

X  2 


1  . 


460 


CLUSIUM. 


that  part  of  the  coating  which  has  unfortunately 
fallen  off,  and  which  covered  one  half  of  the  back 
wall. 

Over  each  side-door  there  is  a  lunette,  represent- 
ing scenes  from  the  funeral  feast.  In  each,  the  par- 
ties consist  of  men  and  women,  sitting  and  con- 
versing  together  with  the  drinking-cup  raised.  In 
one  there  is  a  greyhound,  in  the  other  a  player  on 
the  lyre,  and  behind  the  principal  personages  is  a 
servant,  who  is  running  towards  two  tables  of  a 
very  recherchee  form,  one  of  which  is  filled  with 
wine-vessels.  The  back  chamber  is  painted  in  broad 
red  and  blue  lines  all  round  it,  and  in  the  centre  of 
each  wall  is  a  large  gorgon  mask,  with  teeth  dis- 
played and  tongue  out,  to  represent  all-mocking, 
all-devouring,  all-hideous  death.  Below  these  is  a 
bench  as  if  for  large  sarcophagi,  and  two  broad 
stones  at  one  end  are  laid  across  it,  which  may  have 
been  for  an  uncofRned  body.  Our  guide,  of  course, 
could  give  us  no  information  as  to  their  purpose, 
but  their  position  was  something  like  what  we  saw 
in  the  larthia's  cell  at  Caere,  and  here  lay  a  sculp- 
tured and  broken  stone,  with  the  fragment  of  an 
inscription.  The  lunettes  also  had  long  inscriptions 
under  them,  but  I  should  fear  they  could  no  longer 
be  deciphered.  The  side-chamber  was  unpainted 
and  empty,  and  had  probably  been  appropriated  to 
freedmen  and  dependents.  The  front  chamber,  when 
first  opened,  had  contained  several  more  chests  which 
were  now  sold.  One  of  these  sepulchres,  opened 
in  1827,  belonged  to  the  Sentinate  .-jv|u  i-^y^g-^ 


CLUSIUM. 


461 


a  noble  family  who  had  also  rich  tombs  in  the  Ne- 
cropolis of  Tarquin^.a. 

Description  wholly  fails  to  give  an  idea  of  the 
added  interest  there  is  in  seeing  tombs  filled 
with  their  old  urns  and  sarcophagi  like  those 
at  Chiusi,  instead  of  coming  into  a  chamber  vacant 
and  empty  like  those  at  Caere  and  Tarquinia,  which 
one  endeavours  to  repeople  in  vain.  It  has  all 
the  different  effect  of  an  old  churchyard  full  of 
strange  and  venerable  monuments,  and  a  new 
churchyard  in  which  no  tombstone  has  as  yet 
reared  its  head.  All  these  sepulchres  have  once 
had  in  them  other  ornaments,  and  probably  in  great 
quantities,  but  the  vases,  the  bronzes,  the  arms,  and 
the  gold  ornaments,  which  grateful  affection,  or  de- 
vout feeling,  or  filial  sorrow,  once  consecrated 
within  their  walls,  have  for  ages  disappeared.  Many 
believe  that  they  were  pillaged  at  the  time  when 
Brennus  attacked  Chiusi  on  his  march  to  Rome, 
about  the  year  u.  c.  356,  but  I  know  no  good  au- 
thority for  the  assertion.  At  whatever  time,  how- 
ever, they  may  have  been  pillaged  of  old,  they  are  not 
suffered  to  be  pillaged  anew,  neither  may  little  bits 
of  the  painted  walls  be  peeled  off  in  order  to  be  put 
into  private  collections  where  they  are  good  for 
nothing,  neither  are  those  who  copy  them  suffered 
to  deface  them  with  charcoal  —  neither  dare  any 
peasant  here  come  to  light  his  fire  and  prepare  his 
supper  in  one  of  the  painted  tombs.  Partly  owing 
to  the  ignorance  of  our  guides,  and  partly  owing  to 
our  own  stupidity,  we  did  not  learn  to  what  ancient 


462 


CLUSIUM. 


CLUSIUM. 


463 


families  any  of  these  sepulchres  belonged ;  but 
amongst  the  well-known  families  of  Clusium  are 
those  of  Anius,  Carinus,  Volsinius,  and  Trebonius, 
written  in  Etruscan  characters,  Ani,  Carra,  Fuisini, 
and  Trepu. 

There  are  four  other  sepulchres  near  the  Deposit© 
Dipinto,  but  none  of  them  nearly  so  well  worth 
seeing,  and  there  is  one  containing  seven  chambers, 
but  without  any  paintings.  It  is  rather  an  objec- 
tion in  the  way  of  visiting  these  tombs  that  each 
one  has  a  separate  doorkeeper,  and  each  door- 
keeper, besides  obliging  you  to  wait  until  he  is 
forthcoming,  expects  two  pauls  for  unlocking  the 
door.  The  sum  is  not  much,  but  it  is  provoking  to 
have  one's  hands  for  ever  in  one's  purse,  instead  of 
the  pleasant  arrangement  at  Tarquinia,  where 
Agapeto  bore  the  key  of  all  the  tombs,  and  could 
besides  talk  to  us  like  an  antiquary  concerning 
them. 

The  so  called  guide-general  at  Chlusi  told  the 
driver  of  the  car  where  to  direct  his  course  from  one 
tomb  to  another,  and  then  ran  at  each  separate 
place  to  get  the  doorkeeper,  whilst  we  stood  wait- 
ing. I  confess  it  gave  me  a  very  unpleasant  idea  of 
that  exacting  temper  which  travellers  so  often  com- 
plain of  in  the  Tuscan  peasantry,  and  it  would  be 
far  better  for  themselves  in  the  long-run,  were  the 
guide  to  take  the  keys  of  all  and  pay  them  so  much 
a  time. 

As  we  were  walking  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
from  the  Deposito  Dipinto,  we  were  joined  by  a  pea- 


/ 


\ 


sant  dressed  in  the  usual  substantial  style  of  the 
country,  with  a  few  articles  for  sale—one  was  a  small 
gold  ring,  which  he  said  he  had  found  in  the  Jewel- 
ler's Field,  and  which  had  fitted  the  first  joint  of  a 
woman's  finder.  It  was  set  with  a  blue  pasta,  imi- 
tating  a  turquoise,  and  was  two  small  for  any  one 
but  a  child.  Another  was  a  scarabeus  out  of  a  tomb  ; 
the  stone  was  onyx,  and  it  had  upon  it  some  common 
subject  inditferently  executed  in  the  round  hole 
style.  For  each  of  these  he  asked  a  hundred  francs, 
and  laughed  at  the  idea  of  parting  with  them  for 
less.  I  was  not  at  all  surprised  at  the  value  put 
upon  these  things  by  the  canons,  but  very  much  so 
at  the  prices  asked  by  the  peasantry,  and  often  for 
articles  which  were  by  no  means  first-rate. 

We  were  now  on  our  way  towards  the  tomb  of 
tombs, 

THE    TOMB    OF    PORSENNA, 

Once  the  best  known,  and,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  the 
only  Etruscan  sepulchre  celebrated  in  ancient  his- 
tory. 

Reader!  wilt  thou  believe  me?  The  labyrinth 
of  this  tomb  still  exists,  but  its  locality  is  unascer- 
tained.  No  less  than  four  tumuli  close  to  Chiusi 
dispute  the  honour,  and  though  to  us  only  one  seem- 
ed to  answer  the  description  given  by  Varro  of  its 
being  under  the  town  of  Clusium,  a  stranger  may 
not  dispute  with  a  native  upon  such  a  question,  and 
especially  upon  so  cursory  a  view  as  ours.     What, 


r.  ^'o^- 


464 


CLU8IUM. 


however,  we  regarded,  and  upon  very  good  autho- 
rity, as  the  representative  of  this  tomb,  has  now  no 
architectural  remains,  but  is  a  labyrinth  under  the 
present  castle,  i.  e.  under  the  ground  of  the  ancient 
citadel.  The  building  over  it  would  thus  be  exactly 
beyond  the  walls,  and  rising  in  face  of  the  garrison, 
which  was  the  common  fashion  for  the  distinguished 
chiefs  of  Etruria. 

Pliny  relates  to  us  Varro's  description,  as  fol- 
lows:— "King  Porsenna  was  buried  beneath  the 
city  of  Clusium,  in  a  place  where  he  left  a  monu- 
ment of  himself  in  rectangular  stone.  Each  side 
was  three  hundred  feet  long  and  fifty  high,  and 
within  the  basement  he  made  an  inextricable  laby- 
rinth, into  which  if  any  one  ventured  without  a  clue, 
there  he  must  remain,  for  he  never  could  find  the 
way  out  again.  Above  this  base  stood  five  pyra- 
mids, one  in  the  centre  and  four  at  the  angles,  each 
of  them  seventy-five  feet  in  circumference  at  the 
base,  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  tapering  to 
the  top  so  as  to  be  covered  by  a  cupola  of  bronze. 
From  this  there  hung  by  chains  a  peal  of  bells, 
which,  when  agitated  by  the  wind, sounded  to  a  great 
distance.  Above  this  cupola  rose  four  other  pyra- 
mids, each  a  hundred  feet  high,  and  above  these 
again,  another  story  of  five  pyramids,  which  towered 
to  a  height  so  marvellous  and  improbable,  that 
Varro  hesitates  to  affirm  their  altitude."  And  in 
this  he  was  wise,  for  he  had  already  said  more  upon 
the  subject  than  sober  men  could  credit.  The  alti- 
tude Varro  gives  is  250  feet  upon    a    base    of  50 


i     .     I.I.I.'.'     '  .   i  .  i~~ 


\«i 


I 


J L 


J L 


:LrT 


1  .  1 


J L 


1^^ 


J ,1.1 


-i__L 


I    ,    ! L 


I       1.1 


H- 1 '— T— ^— 1 


rzr 


111 


-^ -oriyalZ^V  1       I       1 


J L 


rrr 


„■  I    1 


TH" T 


Hestaratr.or'  r^r  fir  7>v////  cflriTs  Forsinna..  at  Clusir4:»n^. 
/ram  t^e  acccfimt  or  J-^/^An  •   ////  XXZl'l 


i 


1 


CLUSIUM. 


465 


feet ;  and  though  I  used  to  think  that  any  measure- 
ment added  to  this  must  be  extravagant,  it  appears 
that  buildings  of  this  height  and  higher  are  exist- 
ing at  this  very  day  in  China.  The  great  porcelain 
tower  at  Nankin,  which  has  been  visited  by  some 
of  our  countrymen,  rises  aloft  884  steps,  built  in  nine 
stages,  and  there  are  bells  jingling  upon  the  roof 
at  every  stage.  There  is,  therefore,  nothing  incredi- 
ble in  the  height  nor  in  the  bells,  nor  in  the  bronze 
roofs  of  Porsenna's  tomb,  especially  amongst  a 
people  who  excelled  all  others  in  their  manufactory 
of  bronze ;  and  we  must  remember  that  this  tomb 
was  built  to  rival  the  great  works  of  the  kings  of 
Egypt ;  works  of  which  the  king  of  Chiusi  doubt- 
less had  plans,  and  he  succeeded  so  well  in  his  de- 
sign, that  this  extraordinary  tomb  was  considered 
one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world,  even  in  those  days 
of  giant  masonry  and  cyclopean  magnificence. 
However,  any  one  who  has  seen  the  tomb  of  Aruns, 
the  son  of  Porsenna,  near  the  gate  of  Albano,  will 
be  struck  with  the  similarity  of  style,j  which,  com- 
paring small  things  with  great,  existed  between  the 
monuments  of  father  and  son.  Those  vrho  have 
never  been  in  Italy  may  like  to  know  that  this 
tomb  of  Aruns  is  said  to  have  been  built  by  Por- 
senna for  the  young  prince  who  fell  here  in  battle 
with  the  Latins  and  with  the  Greeks  from  Cuma, 
and  it  is  certainly  the  work  of  Etruscan  masons. 
Five  pyramids  rise  from  a  base  of  fifty-five  square 
feet,  and  the  centre  one  contains  a  small  chamber, 
in  which  was  found,  about  fifty  years  since,  an  urn 

X  5 


( 


466 


CLUSIUM. 


CLU81UM. 


467 


full  of  ashes.     Some  antiquaries  have  thought  that 
they  might  possibly  be  the  ashes  of  Pompey,  brought 
from  Africa  by  Cornelia,  and  magnificently  interred 
at   Albano ;    but   the   first  authorities    upon   these 
points  at  Rome  say  that  this  tomb  is  of  much  older 
date.     I   think  it  was  covered   up  with  earth  till 
about  two  hundred  and  thirty  years  since.      As  to 
Porsenna's  monument,  it  was  never  covered  with 
earth,  to  which,  doubtless,  it  owes  its  destruction, 
and  it  appears  to  have  been  known  by  tradition 
only  in  Pliny's  days ;  but  it  must  have  had  a  very 
grand  effect  whilst  it  did  exist,  rising  close  to  his 
own  romantic  city,  and  dignified  by   his  illustrious 
name.     The  reason  why  doubt  is  thrown  as  to  the 
labyrinth  beneath  the  castle  being  his,  is,  because 
the  labyrinth  of  the  tumulus  opposite  is  the  largest 
in  Italy,  and  both  more  extensive  and  more  curious, 
consisting  of  several  stories.     This  labyrinth  we  had 
no  time  to  see,  and  whoever  would  wish  to  visit 
all  these  tombs  satisfactorily,   must  devote  a  very 
long  day  to  the  purpose.     Not  far  from  this  rises  a 
mound,  known  to  be  very  rich   in  antiquities,  but  it 
belongs  to  one  of  the  canons,  who  will  not  permit 
it  to  be  excavated  during  his  life.     To  this,  there- 
fore, the  antiquary  may  look  as  a  feast  for  the  days 
to  come.     I  believe  that  every  rare  object  found  in 
Chiusi  is  immediately  copied  into  a  work  called  the 
Museo   Chiuisino,   that  the  memory  of  it  may  be 
preserved. 

On  our  return  into    the  town  we  visited  many 
small  collections,  each  of  which  had  its  own  pecu- 


[• 


liar  merit,  and  each  of  which,  besides  repeating  the 
old  story  of  vases,  bronzes,  funeral  urns,  sarcophagi 
in  clay,  stone,  or  marble ;  scarabei,  and  gold  orna- 
ments, had  some  one  thing  to  show  which  we  did 
not  see  elsewhere.  The  chief  museums  are  the 
Pasquino,  Paolozzi,  and  Casuccini,  the  last  of  which 
alone  I  shall  particularise,  because  the  brief  and  im- 
perfect description  I  can  give  of  it  will  convey  an 
idea  of  all  that  is  best  worth  notice  or  most  remark- 
able in  the  others. 

The  Casuccini  is  so  very  extraordinary  a  collec- 
tion, that  could  a  person  only  see  either  it  or  the 
tombs,  without  having  time  for  both,  I  am  not  sure 
which  is  to  be  preferred.  The  padrone  of  it,  Signor 
Casuccini,  is  a  very  wealthy  proprietor  in  Chiusi, 
having  an  extensive  property  in  which  he  has  made 
and  is  still  making  excavations  on  a  large  scale,  and 
the  whole  collection  was  found  upon  his  own  land, 
and,  though  not  a  public  exhibition,  is  most  liberally 
and  freely  opened  to  the  inquiring  stranger.  We 
were  ushered  into  four  or  five  large  rooms,  com- 
pletely fitted  up  from  top  to  bottom  with  rare  and 
strange  antiquities,  and  laid  out  with  the  most  pleas- 
ing taste,  everything  being  so  placed  that  it  could 
be  seen  to  advantage,  and  so  as  not  to  lose  its  proper 
effect.  Those  who  have  no  knowledge  of  antiquity, 
and  no  love  for  its  customs,  would  be  as  much 
amused  here,  as  at  any  other  very  pretty,  very 
strange  show.  There  are  even  old  stones,  shafts  of 
columns,  &c.,  so  disposed  about  the  room,  that  one 
may  sit  down  upon  them  and  admire  the  surround- 


468 


CLUSIUM. 


CLUSIUM. 


469 


ing  objects  at  leisure  and  with  comfort.      Though 
we  had  no  intelligent  guide  with  us,  and  the  master 
of  the  house  was  from  home,  it  was  a  help  and  a 
pleasure  at  the  very  beginning  to  know  that  all  we 
saw  had  been  found  at  Chiusi,  for  had  we  not  known 
it,  we  should  have  referred  a  vast  variety  of  objects 
in  this  extensive  museum   to  other  places.     There 
were  black  stamped   vases   like  those   of  Volterra, 
and  which  I  doubt  not  really  were  made  at  Volterra, 
seeing  that  it  lies  in  the  immediate  nei^^hbourhood. 
There  were  others  of  black  stamped  clay  of  inferior 
execution,  like  what  we  had  found  at  Veii.     Here 
we  saw  the  eye-painted  vases  of  Vulci,  in  which  the 
principal  animal  or  figure  often  appears  to  spring 
from  the  eye  which  is  painted  beside  it.     These  are 
supposed  to  have  been  only  manufactured  in  Chiusi 
and  Vulci,  though  they  are  sometimes  found  in  other 
parts  of  the  world.     Here   were  the  high  narrow 
forms  and  pale  clay  of  Magna  Grecia,  though  the 
subjects  on  them   were  differently  represented  ;  and 
here  were  the  forms,  subjects,  and  style  of  group- 
ing of  Tarquinia,  though  the  enamel  was  decidedly 
inferior.     Casuccini  has  vases  of  immense  size  and 
beauty,  and  many  of  them  are  inscribed.     I  must 
say,  however,  that    in  the  polish   of  the  clay,  the 
brilliancy  of  the  black  enamel,  and  the  spirit  of  the 
drawings,  they  do  not  equal  the  finest  which  we  saw 
in  the  vicinity  of  Rome;  but  he  has  tazze,  which  in 
every  respect  equal  what  we  had  elsewhere  seen, 
if  they  are  not  superior,  and   this  is  the   more  sin- 
gular, because  tazze  are  a  great  deal  more  rare  than 


I 


W 


vases,  and  are  but  seldom  obtained  unbroken.     His 
bronze  and  gilt  specchj  also  are  not  to  be  exceeded, 
even  by  the  Prince  of  Canino's.      He  had  several 
focolari  like  the  one  we  saw  at  the  young  priest*s, 
both  black  and  red ;  and  he  had  one  very  remark- 
able jug,  large  and  handsome,  and  in  the  Egyptian 
style,  which  we  could  not  help  observing,  the  sub- 
ject being  repeated  three  times  upon  the  bowl  of  the 
vase.     First  appears  a  man  in  helmet  and  cuirass, 
with  a  wedge-like  beard  in  the  old  Egyptian  style, 
and  two  spears  in  his  hand.     This  is  called  a  warrior 
god,  though  the  spears  are  by  no  means  appropriated 
to  divinity,  being  frequently  found  buried  with  the 
body  of  a  chief.     He  is  followed  by  a  female  called 
the  Mantled  Queen  of  the  Dead,  though  I  think 
with  as  little  reason  as  the  other  is  called  a  god,  for 
she  looked  to  me  more  like  the  wife  of  a  man  before 
her,  whom  she  is  holding  by  the  arm,  and  who  is 
half  naked,   bearing  in    his  hand  a  drawn  sword. 
Then  comes  the  gorgon  monster,  which  represents 
death  itself,  the  grinning  and  hideous  devourer  of 
all  things.     His  tongue  is  out,  his  teeth  displayed, 
he  has  tusks  like  a  wild  boar,  crossing  each  other 
at  the  extremities  of  his  mouth,  and  he   has  a  pair 
of  wings  which  open  outwards  from  the  breast,  as  if 
even  in  immortal  attributes  he  differed  from  every 
other  existing  or  imagined  thing.     Next  to  him  ap- 
pears Mercury,  the  protector  and  conductor  of  souls 
below,  with  a  wedge-like  beard  and  wings,  and  with 
a  goose  at  his  feet.     Then  follows  the  dog-headed 
Anubis,  the  constant  attendant  in  Amentis,  and  the 


470 


CLUSIUM. 


guardian  of  the  dead,  having  a  swan  or  some  such 
bird  at  his  feet,  and  a  sparrow-hawk  with  wings 
expanded  above  his  breast ;    representing  the  dis- 
tance and  difference  between  the  good  and  evil  prin- 
ciple— the   one   cleaving  to  the  earth,  or  sinking 
lower   still — the   other   rising    upwards  in  the  air 
towards   heaven.      Round    the   rim    of  this    vase 
twines  the  serpent  belonging  to  the  good  genius,  and 
again,  in  various  places  appears  the  gorgon  mask, 
as  if  to  represent  the  constant  attacks  and  mingling 
of  the  evil  genius  in  all  the  passages  of  our  history  ; 
even  of  him  who  gives  to  the  grave  its  terrors,  and 
to  death    its  sting,   and  from    which    an    opposite 
power  must   help  to  save  us.     the  very  heathens 
knew  that  fallen  man  must  have  a  Saviour,  and  that 
he  could  do  nothing  of  any  real  worth  without  divine 
protection  and  assistance. 

There  are  a  great  many  cinerary  urns  in  this  col- 
lection, both  in  red  baked  clay,  and  in  black  un- 
baked clay,  with  lids  that  lift  up,  and  which  have 
upon  them  either  the  faces  or  the  entire  figures  of 
the  deceased.  Of  this  last  kind  are  five  black  urns, 
which  have  no  other  ornaments  than  the  figure  or 
effigy  which  forms  the  lid,  in  a  kneeling  attitude,  as 
if  supplicating  the  gods  of  the  shades  in  favour  of 
his  ashes,  or  of  the  spirit  which  once  animated  them. 
This  same  representation  is  stiffly  engraved  upon 
most  of  the  monumental  stones  of  Egypt. 

Some  of  the  red  vases  had  holes  beneath  the 
figures,  as  if  to  allow  the  heat  or  vapour  of  the 
ashes  to  escape  from  the  urn,  and  there  were  a  few 


II 


I 


CLUSIUM. 


471 


strange  urns,  consisting  of  the  head  of  the  deceased, 
the  size  of  life,  in  terra  cotta,  extremely  well  ex- 
ecuted, and  filled  with  his  own  ashes.  Any  tomb 
with  a  number  of  these  heads  placed  upon  the  mor- 
tuary-shelf must  have  looked,  when  opened,  like  a 
dungeon  in  which  a  number  of  traitors  or  patriots 
had  been  beheaded. 

Amongst  the  bassi  relievi  we  examined  a  flat 
stone  of  travertine,  on  which  was  finely  sculptured 
a  funeral  feast,  and  the  usual  triclinium,  and  near  it 
stood  a  marble  altar  with  a  sacred  procession  and  re- 
ligious ceremony  going  on  to  the  lyre  and  flute.  One 
altar  had  represented  upon  it  two  warriors  on  horse- 
back holding  shields,  and  the  face  of  each  was  painted 
red — it  is  in  the  very  oldest  style  known,  and  of  a 
kind  found  only  in  Chiusi  and  the  Val  de  Chiana. 
One  fragment  of  an  altar  has  an  inscription  upon  it, 
beneath  a  youth  who  lies  upon  the  ground  veiled. 

In  opposition,  as  it  were,  to  these  marble  altars 
of  the  highest  antiquity  in  basso  relievo,  we  saw  two 
marble  cinerary  urns,  or  monuments,  with  subjects 
upon  them  in  alto  relievo,  and  in  a  style  many  cen- 
turies  later,  when  Etruscan  subjects  began  to  be  re- 
presented in  the  Greek  and  Roman  manner.  The  first 
portrays  the  genius  of  death  with  his  hammer 
raised,  having  struck  down  one  victim,  and  being 
prepared  to  strike  down  another,  whilst  he  still 
watches  over  a  combat  between  two  persons  near 
him.  When  this  vase  was  first  brought  to  light,  the 
figures  had  over  them  an  inscription  in  black  letters, 
but  they  are  now  almost  obliterated  and  quite  illegi- 


I 


472 


CLUSIUM. 


CLUSICJM. 


473 


ble.  Upon  the  lateral  faces  of  the  urn  are  the  good 
and  evil  genius,  each  on  his  own  side,  keeping  a  giite 
into  the  world  of  spirits,  and  anxiously  watching  to 
discover  by  which  the  newly  disembodied  soul  will 
pass.  We  longed  to  see  how  it  was  finally  disposed 
of,  but  this  is  not  told ;  and  it  is  impressive  to  mark 
how  carefully  the  Etruscans  have  in  general  avoided 
passing  their  own  judgment  upon  any  one.  The 
deceased  probably  met  his  death  in  battle.  The  lid  of 
the  urn  is  composed  of  his  effigy,  but  wants  the  head. 
The  other  monumental  urn,  the  size  of  a  sarcopha- 
gus, belonged  to  the  family  of  Apponia  ANV8A, 
a  noble  house  of  Chiusi.  The  lid  represents,  in  old 
Etruscan  fashion,  the  deceased,  a  lady,  wanting,  how- 
ever, the  head  ;  she  is  reposing  upon  double  cushions, 
not  embroidered,  but  finished  off  with  tassels  !  She 
is  half  sitting,  with  the  left  knee  a  good  deal  raised, 
and  a  quantity  of  chains  and  ornaments  upon  her 
person.  The  neck  is  encircled  by  a  serpent,  which  re- 
minded me  of  a  Hindoo  neck  banole,  and  beneath 
this  hangs  a  necklace  like  a  knight's  collar,  com- 
posed of  a  thick  cord,  upon  which  are  strung  orna- 
ments, alternately  round  and  pear-shaped,  of  consi- 
derable size.  From  the  two  front  pears  proceeds  a 
chain  which  crosses  and  terminates  in  the  girdle, 
but  is  confined  at  the  crossing  by  a  large  round 
ornament  like  a  bulla  or  medallion,  which,  no  doubt, 
contained  perfumes,  and  which  is  stamped  with  a 
rose  within  a  wheel.  The  hands  must  have  held 
the  patera,  but  both  in  this  and  in  the  other  monu- 
ment they  have  been  broken  off.     The  subject  sculp- 


L' 


I 


I 


/ 


tured  upon  the  front  of  this  monument  is  the  parting 
of  husband  and  wife  at  the  death  of  this  lady,  and  the 
scene  appeared  to  be  touching  and  beautiful.  She 
is  bidding  her  husband  adieu,  without  knowing 
how  to  leave  him,  and  behind  her  appears  the 
genius  of  death  winged  and  buskined,  but  not 
frightful,  gently  drawing  her  away.  At  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  picture  stands  the  gate  of  Hades, 
within  which  is  a  genius  waiting  with  opened  shears 
to  cut  the  slender  thread  of  life.  Between  this 
genius  and  the  husband  is  a  long  line  of  figures,  with 
inscriptions  over  them,  probably  names  or  titles, 
or  some  sentence  expressive  of  lamentation.  They 
represent  the  nearest  relations  endeavouring  to 
comfort  the  bereaved  husband,  and  to  reconcile  him 
to  his  loss.  The  last  figure  is  a  female  with  some 
peculiar  machine  in  her  hand,  the  uses  and  mean- 
ing of  which  are  unknown  ;  perhaps,  it  may  here- 
after be  discovered  by  a  scarabeus,  as  happened  in 
the  case  of  another  instrument,  the  intention  of 
which  was  still  doubtful  when  we  left  Italy. 

The  engraving  I  allude  to  is  upon  a  cornelian 
scarabeus  found  at  Chiusi,  and  represents  a  man 
running  with  a  number  of  vases  strung  upon  a  rod, 
and  thrown  over  his  shoulder.  Campanari  was  told 
by  one  of  the  learned  canons,  that  this  string  of 
vases  was  supposed  to  represent  a  musical  instru- 
ment formed  of  a  number  of  brazen  vessels  which 
knocked  against  each  other  as  he  ran,  and  was  used 
like  a  peal  of  bells  to  announce  in  the  olden  time 
some  noted    or   notable  public  event.     When  we 


^(, 


474 


CLUSICJM. 


were  in  the  British  Museum,  we  saw  this  very  in- 
strument brought  home  from  the  South  Seas,  where 
it  is  used  as  an  announcement  bell !  It  stands  in 
the  room  where  there  are  a  number  of  antique 
bronzes,  and  the  old  public  seals  of  England. 

The   upper   end   of  one   of  the  large  rooms  at 
Casuccini's  is  entirely  filled  with  sarcophagi  laid 
upon  ledges  as  they  were  found  in  the  tombs.     Some 
few  were  our  old  friends  the  Etruscan  lucumones,  as 
large  as  life  or  larger,  lying  in  state  upon  their  own 
coffin  lids  in  stone  or  terra  cotta;  but  the  greater 
number  of  these  monuments  were  cinerary   urns  or 
chests  of  large  size,  some  part  of  which,  perhaps  the 
arm,  or  the  crown  of  the  head,  or  the  vase  in  the 
hand,  lifted  out  and  admitted  the  ashes.     I  have 
reserved   to   the   last   mentioning   the   one    which 
pleased  and  astonished  us  the  most.     In  the  midst 
of  all  these  sarcophagi,  upon  the  ground,  and  in  front 
by  itself,  like  the  presiding  genius  of  the  place,  sat 
a  white-robed  figure,  of  grave  and  solemn  appear- 
ance, in  a  curule  chair.     It  made  me  start  when  I 
first  saw  it,  for  it  looked  like  life,  and  as  if  it  were 
going  to  rise  and  demand  from  us  why  we  intruded 
there.     I  am  sure,  had  I  seen  it  in  the  tomb,  so  pure 
and  still,  yet  so  dignified  and  commanding,  I  could 
never  have  drawn  it  forth.     I  could  not  have  laid 
rude  hands  upon  it.     It  was  to  my  mind  the  most 
beautiful  and  solemn  manner  of  embellishing  death 
that  ever  entered  a  mortal's  head,  and  reminded 
me  of  those  lines, 


I 


CLusiUM.  475 

"  Enfant  de  Tart,  j*imite  la  nature, 

"  Et  sans  prolonger  la  vie  j'empeche  de  mourir  ; 

"  Je  conserve  tous  vos  traits  de  la  maniere  la  plus  sAre, 

"  Et  je  deviens  plus  jeune  a  force  de  vieillir.'* 

It  was  the  portrait  and  figure  of  the  deceased  ;  but 
what  increased  my  wonder  was  to  perceive  that  it 
was  a  woman  !  The  Larthia  of  Chiusi.  She  sat  in 
queenly  dignity,  in  her  robes  of  ceremony,  and  in 
her  chair  of  state  ;  and  the  inscription  which  told  of 
what  she  had  been,  was  placed  beneath  her  feet,  as 
if,  when  she  entered  the  grave,  the  things  of  earth 
were  to  her  all  levelled  with  the  dust.  The  figure 
was  of  fetid  limestone,  in  a  beautiful  style  of  art, 
and  such  was  its  effect  that  I  could  hardly  refrain 
from  tears.  It  has  been  raised  to  soothe  some 
bleeding  heart,  and  it  is  the  gem  of  Chiusi.  Indeed, 
I  cannot  but  believe  from  the  many  poetical  sculp- 
tures which  we  saw  in  this  and  other  collections, 
that  the  Etruscans  have  had  amongst  them  poets  of 
the  highest  order — men  of  master  minds,  who  knew 
the  source  of  every  deep  and  holy  feeling  which 
dwells  within  the  human  breast,  who  could  rouse 
the  soul  to  noble  daring  or  heroic  suffering,  to 
triumph  in  the  strains  of  victory,  or  to  melt  at  the 
touch  of  sorrow ;  who  could  pour  balm  into  the 
wounded  heart,  and  not  only  sympathize  them- 
selves, but  teach  others  also  how  to  share  and  soothe 
a  brother's  woe.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  for  the  sake  of 
Chiusi,  that  if  ever  this  rich  and  noble  collection 
comes  to  be  parted  with,  and  brought  to  sale,  it 
will  be  purchased  by  the  town  whole  and  entire, 


I'^'i 


476 


CLUSIUM. 


and  that  no  part  of  it  will  be  dispersed  or  suflPered 
to  wander  elsewhere. 

Signore  Paolozzi's  museum  was  once  a  rival  to 
this,  but  now  everything  either  has  been  sold,  or 
stands  for  sale,  and  in  another  year  I  do  not  think 
it  will  be  worth  visiting  to  any  one  who  does   not 
intend  to  become  a  purchaser.     As  we  had  heard  of 
many  of  the  articles  which  were  once  to  be  seen 
there,  and  would  not  believe  our  guide  as  to  the 
quantity  which  had  been  disposed   of,   we  insisted 
upon  proceeding  to  this  house,  and  moreover,  when 
there,  we  expected  to  find   all   that  our   fancy  had 
pictured  previously.     We  were  very  civilly  admitted, 
and  shown  the  poor  remains  of  this  once  splendid 
collection  ;    but  as  our  expectations  had  been    un- 
reasonable, we    were   proportionably  disappointed, 
and  to  such  a  degree,  that   I  really   do   not  know 
whether  some  of  the  notes  I  have  preserved  refer 
to  things  which   we  did   see,  or  only  to  what   we 
ought  to  have  seen  in  the  Museo   Paolozzi.     The 
finest  things  in  his  house  had  been  purchased  by  an 
Englishman,  and   were  laid  aside  to  be  packed   up 
the  following  day,  so  that  we  were  just  in  time  for 
a  few  articles  which  will  never  more  be  exhibited  in 
Italy.       He    used    to    be    rich    in    Canopus    vases, 
bronzes,  and  marbles,  with  alto  and  basso  relievo, 
and  he  once  had  a  tazza  of  native  black  earth,  un- 
baked but  highly  polished,  on  the  handles  of  which 
was  stamped  an   Egyptian  goddess,  standing  before 
a    pyramid  and  watching    the  dead  ;    and    he  had 
several   with    winged  lions,  and  winged   sphynxes. 


CLUSIUM. 


477 


L/ 


f 


which  both  in  Egypt  and  Etruria  were  guardians  of 
the  sepulchre.  Here  or  elsewhere  we  saw  some  red 
and  ornamented  water-ducts  like  what  used  to  be 
made  at  Veii,  and  a  silver  vase  and  patera  chiselled, 
in  a  style  which  antiquaries  say  cannot  be  later 
than  750  b.  c  ,  about  the  foundation  of  Rome.  Per- 
haps the  most  pleasing  article  was  a  four-sided 
marble  altar,  the  scene  upon  which  was  the  death 
of  a  noble  matron,  in  basso  relievo,  of  great  merit. 
The  whole  of  the  subject,  and  the  manner  of  treat- 
ing it,  are  strictly  national.  The  dying  lady  is 
extended  upon  a  bed,  and  her  son  is  weeping  by 
her  side,  whilst  many  women  are  mourning  round 
her  in  different  attitudes.  At  the  end  of  the  picture 
are  a  man  and  women  seated  and  busily  engaged  in 
some  act  which  was  connected  with  the  situation  of 
their  expiring  friend.  All  the  faces  are  portraits. 
The  collection  of  bronze  idols  used  to  show  the 
three  different  styles  of  the  old  Egyptico-Etruscan, 
the  Etruscan  proper,  and  the  imitation  of  Egyptian, 
which  is  the  latest,  and  the  rudest ;  and  this  series 
would  have  been  particularly  interesting  to  us,  as 
enabling  us  to  classify  our  own,  but  it  was  broken 
up,  so  that  nothing  could  be  learned  from  it  without 
a  more  intelligent  guide  that  we  were  fortunate 
enough  to  find  on  the  day  we  saw  it. 

I  have  said  that  we  visited  several  other  small 
collections,  but  though  interesting  to  see,  they  would 
only  weary  in  description. 

There  is  a  place  called  Sarteano,  about  six  miles 
from  Chiusi,  which  we  should  certainly  have  driven 


^A, 


478 


CLUSIUM. 


to,  had  we  heard  of  it  in  time,  on  account  of  the 
curious  tombs  and  vases  which  have  been  found 
there.  In  this  part  of  Italy,  more  than  anywhere 
else,  they  appear  to  have  buried  in  all  manner  of 
styles  :  coffined  and  uncoffined,  with  tumulus,  laby- 
rinth built  cell,  and  rocky  cavern  ;  in  sarcophagus 
and  cinerary  chest,  in  recumbent  or  seated  statues, 
in  funereal  busts  or  urns ;  and  Sarteano  is  singular 
even  as  one  of  these  varieties,  for  it  would  appear 
to  have  belonged  to  a  tribe  or  sect  who  buried  in 
a  manner  peculiar  to  themselves.  It  was  acci- 
dentally discovered  in  1825,  and  consists  of  a 
number  of  tombs  all  excavated  in  the  tufo,  and 
consisting,  for  the  most  part,  of  one  chamber  only  of 
moderate  size.  A  few  of  them  contain  two  or  three 
chambers,  and  are  supported  by  a  pilaster  hewn 
out  of  the  rock  to  support  the  roof.  They  are  un- 
painted,  and  have  no  other  ornament  than  the  door 
and  a  ledge  round  them  for  the  urns  with  which 
they  are  filled.  These  urns  are  called  canopus 
vases,  because  they  resemble  in  form  the  Egyptian 
vases  of  that  name  ;  only,  that  instead  of  containing 
the  heart  and  viscera  merely  of  the  deceased,  they 
contain  the  whole  body  reduced  to  ashes.  As  the 
roof  of  many  of  these  caverns  has  given  way  on 
being  forced  in,  quantities  of  these  urns  are  found 
broken.  We  saw  some  very  strange  ones  at  Casuc- 
cini's,  and  there  are  two  particularly  well  worth 
attention  in  the  Florence  gallery.  The  one  is  a 
vase  standing  in  a  curule  chair  of  wood.  The  peo- 
ple called  it  "  dura  querce,'*  or  hard  oak,  covered 


CLUSIUM. 


479 


ll 


all  over  with  a  coating  of  lime  to  preserve  it,  and 
varnished,  after  having  been  painted  a  sort  of  light 
yellowish  brown  colour.  The  vase  is  of  red  clay, 
with  two  handles,  and  the  top  of  it  represents  in 
very  old  style  the  head  of  a  middle-aged  and  bearded 
man,  with  marked  eyebrows,  curly  hair,  and  ear- 
rings. No  doubt  this  person  was  a  man  of  curule 
rank.  The  other  vase  also  stands  in  a  curule  chair, 
made  of  the  same  materials,  and  preserved  in  the 
same  manner ;  it  is  of  black  earth,  and  has  not  two 
handles,  but  two  holes,  into  which  the  bearer's 
hands  must  be  inserted  to  carry  it  from  one  place  to 
another,  and  which  coming  out  where  arms  ought 
to  have  been,  give  one  the  idea  of  two  stumps,  from 
which  those  useful  members  have  been  amputated. 
The  lid  of  it  is  also  a  man's  head  in  the  oldest  style, 
with  a  remarkable  expression  of  firmness  and  deci- 
sion in  the  features.  It  was  very  extraordinary  to 
find  wood  which  had  been  thus  preserved  upwards 
of  2,000  years.  Some  of  these  urns  have  been  found 
placed  in  chairs  of  terra  cotta,  and 
others  consisting  of  head  and  neck  only 
thus,  have  had  the  eyebrows  and  eye- 
lashes painted  black  to  resemble  life.  In 
most  of  these  the  colour  has  almost  dis- 
appeared, but  many  have  been  painted 
in  various  colours,  to  resemble  as 
nearly  as  possible  the  original  within  turned  to 
dust.  The  hair  is  frequently  painted,  and  many  of 
them  present  the  appearance  of  wigs,  which  I 
doubt   not  were  worn  by  the  magistrates  when  in 


480 


CLUSIUM. 


ceremony.     They  are  made  of  common  clay,  and 
not  burned  ;  some  of  them  are  the  heads  of  women, 
and  there  is  one  of  a  young  woman,  in  the  Florence 
gallery,  which  is  a  model  of  perfect  beauty.     We 
saw  one,  of  a  woman  standing  upon  a  pedestal,  and 
made  of  red   clay,  in  which   the  arms  come  through 
the  handles  of  the  vase  as  if  to  lift  it  up.     Another 
of  the  same    kind  upon  a    pedestal,    was  a  man's 
head  without  any  arms.     His  eyes  were  composed 
of  two  pebbles,  the  one  green  and  the  other  red,  of 
the  natural  shape.     Another,  which  struck  me  as 
very  extraordinary,  was  of  black  earth  in  the  stiff 
Egyptian  style.     The  lid  represents  a  female  face, 
with  ears  too  high  for  nature,  and  hooded,  so  that 
it  looks  like  a  head  in  a  waterproof  floating  pillow. 
The  handles  of  the  vase  are  two  stump-holes,  be- 
neath which  come  out  the  long  thin  shapeless  arms, 
the  elbows  bending  on  the  bowl  of  the  vase,  and  the 
long    hands   meeting    in    front  below  the   breasts. 
The  arms  and  wrists  are  ornamented   with  brace- 
lets.    The  reverse  of  the  vase  is  made  to  represent 
a  human  back  with  veins  and  sinews.      This  vase 
was  once  Paolozzi's,  and,  though  very  ugly,  is,  I  sup- 
pose,  unique.     I    was    told    that    the   museum    at 
Perugia   possesses  one  of  these  vases  taken  from 
Sarteano,  and  made  of  bronze.     Some  of  the  young 
faces  both  of  men  and  women  are  very  handsome ; 
all  are  marked  countenances,  and  the  differences  of 
ao-e,  character,  expression,  and  costume,  are  very 
well  delineated ;  what,  however,  stamps  them  with 
their  highest  interest  is  the  fact,  that  they  present 


CLUSIUM. 


481 


the  very  same  character  of  countenance  which  dis- 
tinguishes the  Tuscans  of  the  present  day,  of  whom 
they  are  certainly  the  types,  if  not  the  direct  an- 
cestors.    The  vertical  diameter  of  the  head  is  short, 
the  ears  somewhat  high,  the   forehead   broad  and 
low,  the  nose  aquiline,  and  the  chin  rounded.     This 
is  the  style  of  face,  and  if  face  and  mind  go  together 
in  the  human  subject,  we  may  certainly  allow  that, 
excepting  as  regards  the  universal  love  of  money, 
it  would  be  difficult  to  find    a    more    respectable 
character  than  that  of  the  Tuscan  people.     Fond  of 
art  and  literature,  respecters  of  the  law,  lovers  of 
peace  and  order;    honest,   industrious,    sober,   and 
religious ;  they  are,  however,  fond  of  play,  and  much 
disposed  to  impose    upon    strangers.      The  higher 
orders  are  generally  dissipated,  and  fond  of  show. 
The  very  highest,  the  court  I  mean,  are  examples 
of  all  that   is  estimable  and    excellent   in    human 
nature.     I  have  no  reason  to  praise    them,   as    I 
never    mean   to  live  in  Tuscany,  and   most  likely 
shall   never    see    them  again;    but    this    I  cannot 
refrain  from  testifying,  that  I  have  seen  the  Grand 
Duke  and  Grand  Duchess,  and  the  Princess  Caro- 
line, put  themselves  out  of  the  way  to  notice  and 
entertain  timid  English  strangers,  and  to  explain  to 
them  the  amusements    and   customs  of  the  place, 
when  their  own  country  people,  it  may  be  their  own 
upstart  country  people,  were  vastly  too  grand  and 
too  haughty  to  show  them  any  attention ;  and  the 
persons  alluded  to  were  close  to  me  when  the  prin- 
cess was  explaining  to  them  the  signals  for  the  race, 

Y 


i 


482 


CLUSIUM. 


and  an  Englishman  present,  dressed  in  a  little  brief 
authority,    seemed  ashamed   of    owning   their   ac- 
quaintance.    The  remark  made  to  me  was,  "  The 
princess  has  learned  Christianity,  the  commoner  has 
only  heard  of  it ;"    and    I  do    indeed  believe    the 
remark  was  true.     This  scene  is  only  one  of  many 
I  could  relate  which  would  read  much  better,  but  it 
was   from  circumstances  an   act  of  moral  courasre, 
and  it  made  such  an  impression  upon  me  that  I 
am   delighted  to  join  the  Tuscans  in    bearing  my 
feeble  testimony  to    the    worth    of  their  excellent 
rulers.     May  they  long  live    to  bless   their  coun- 
try, and  may  their   children    be    like    them !     By 
those  strangers  to  whom   they  showed   such   kind- 
ness, and  by  those  who  witnessed,  and  who  could 
appreciate  it,  their  conduct  will  never  be  forgotten. 
I  have  seen  other  crowned  heads  in  a  similar  posi- 
tion act  very  differently. 

It  was  most  gratifying,  as  we  travelled  through 
the  country,  to  find  how  all  classes  in  Tuscany 
honoured  the  Grand  Duke  "  Leopold  the  Good,"  and 
how  pleased  the  innkeepers  and  the  peasants  were, 
at  every  different  place,  to  take  us  to  the  window, 
and  to  show  us  the  view,  saying,  "  All  this  belongs 
to  our  sovereign,  nostro  sovrano.  That  is  his  farm, 
see  how  well  it  is  managed  ;  that  ground  was  his 
draining,  that  road  was  his  making;"  and  then  they 
assured  us  that  all  the  necessaries  and  blessings  of 
life,  the  corn,  the  wine,  and  the  oil,  were  nowhere 
so  good,  so  cheap,  and  so  abundant,  as  in  Tuscany. 
The  Grand  Duke,  whilst  most  kind  to  the  poor,  is 


( 


CLUSIUM. 


483 


most  just  to  all;    never   taking  advantage  of  his 
own  station  in  any  pleadings  between  the  crown  and 
the  subject ;  and   I  never  saw  a  man  who  seemed, 
whilst  always  maintaining  the  dignity  of  a  prince, 
so  constantly  to  remember  that  he  was  a  fallible 
mortal,  and     accountable  creature— higher  to-day 
than  the  highest   of  his   nobles,  but  liable   to  be 
reduced   to-morrow   to    the    same    level    with    the 
meanest  of  his  peasants.     A  Tuscan  in  the  south  of 
Italy  will  give  as  an  explanation  of  every  ill  that 
comes  before  him,  *«  Ah  questo  non  e  la  Toscana,'' 
'*  Ah  this  is  not  Tuscany  ;"  and  the  Chiusians,  though 
lying  so  close  upon  the  Roman  States  that  I  believe 
their  gate  is  the  frontier,  have  this  feeling  to  the 
full  as  strong  as  any  of  the  rest  of  their  country- 
men.     To  hear  them  speak,  one  would    suppose 
that  there  was  an  impassable  gulf  between  the  two 
territories,   or   that   they  were   at   least  fifty  miles 
asunder. 

The  present  town  is  neither  large  nor  handsome, 
and  is  said  to  be  unhealthy,  and  consequently  much 
depoj)ulated  ;  but  the  air  appeared  to  us  very  pure, 
and  the  peasantry  were  stout  and  fresh  looking. 
The  walls  stand  upon  the  old  Etruscan  foundations, 
though  it  is  probable  that  the  ancient  city  covered 
more  ground  than  the  present.  The  castle  is  on 
the  site  of  the  ancient  citadel,  and  the  cathedral 
stands  upon  a  ruined  temple  of  Mars,  from  which 
its  curious  marble  columns  were  taken.  We  neither 
saw  nor  heard  of  any  good  pictures. 

Y  2 


<•( 


484 


CLUSIUM. 


At  the  inn  we  were  complimented  upon  being 
the  only  English  people  who  had  ever  known  how 
to  eat  meat  properly;    which   means,  being  inter- 
preted, how  to  eat  it  over-dressed  without  finding 
fault ;  and  we  were  considered  as  very  comme  il  faut, 
and  superior  in  wisdom  upon  that  account.     The 
smart  maid  of  the  inn,  after  being  very  attentive 
for  some  little  time,  at  last  made  a  sort  of  dart  at 
my  arm,  begging  pardon  in  the  Italian  way,  "  Scusa, 
Signora,"  as  she  lifted  up  the  frill  of  my  sleeve.     I 
felt  much  obliged  to  her,  and  sat  quite  still,  never 
doubting  that  she  was   brushing   delicately  off  or 
killing  some  stinging  insect  which  she  had  observed. 
I  could  not,  however,  understand  all  her  manoeuvres 
with  this  frill,  for  she  pulled  the  sleeve  gently  be- 
neath whilst  she  held  it  up,  and   I  saw  no  insect 
whatever.    She  then  thanked  me,  and  said  that  she 
now  knew  how  the  sleeve  was  made,  and  how  to 
fashion  her  next  festa  gown   like  it.     She  told  me 
that  it  had  attracted  the  admiration  of  the  house 
the  moment  I  entered,  and  that  the  women  in  it 
being  unable  to  divine  how  so  admirable  a  sleeve 
had  been  contrived,  she  had  brought  the  head  man- 
tuamaker  of  the  place  two  or  three  times  through 
the  room    to  look  at  it  in  hopes  of  discovering  the 
secret,  in  order  that  the  Chiusi  sleeves  might  be 
made  henceforward  in  the  same  manner.     I   had 
indeed    been    annoyed    with    the    woman,    for    she 
always  loitered  as  she  passed  through,  and  stopped 
to  ask  me  some  common-place   question,  such    as 


/ 


CLUSIUM. 


485 


"  how  I  liked  Italy  ?"  and  "  if  it  was  ever  so  hot  in 
England  ?"  and  I  had  set  her  down  for  an  idle 
housemaid.  I  was  greatly  praised  for  allowing  this 
sleeve  to  be  examined,  whilst  between  laughter  and 
anger  I  knew  not  what  to  say,  for  I  was  not  only 
amazed  at  the  impertinence,  but  really  provoked 
that  an  Italian  girl  should  give  up  her  own  pic- 
turesque and  graceful  costume  to  follow  the  silly, 
and,  in  a  poor  person,  the  vulgar-looking  fashions 
of  the  French  metropolis.  I  had  little  idea  that  I 
was  personating  Le  Courier  des  Dames,  when  I 
entered  our  apartments  in  the  inn  at  Chiusi. 

The  name  of  this  town  in  Roman  times  was 
Clusium,  and  at  a  more  remote  epoch  "  Camers," 
and  it  is  said  to  have  been  founded  by  Tarchon. 
Others  say  that  Tarchon  conquered  Camers  from 
the  Umbri,  and  changed  its  name  to  Clusium.  It 
appears  to  have  been  the  great  rival  in  importance 
to  Tarquinia,  as  both  cities  were  the  seat  of  the 
Etruscan  kings  before  the  Trojan  war.  A  small 
portion  of  its  old  walls,  of  Umbrian  construction, 
is  to  be  seen  close  to  the  cathedral.  It  is  better 
known  to  the  generality  of  readers  than  any  other 
Etruscan  city  excepting  Veii,  because,  exclusive  of 
being  always  a  leader  in  the  league,  and  a  place  of 
great  wealth,  luxury,  and  importance,  it  comes  so 
prominently  forward  in  the  history  of  Porsenna, 
the  conqueror  of  Rome,  that  the  briefest  abridgment 
of  Roman  story  cannot  omit  either  the  mention  of 
his  name,  or  the  praise  of  his  heroic  virtues,  ■*  Por- 
senna might,  had    he   chosen,   have   changed   the 


486 


CLUSIUM. 


history  of  the  world,  and  have  razed  to  the  ground 
the  city  of  Rome  before  her  republic  began.  She 
would  then  have  been  known  as  the  child  of  Alba 
Longa,  and  as  nothing  more,  excepting  in  so  far 
as  she  was  great  and  powerful  under  the  Tarqui- 
nians,  and,  for  aught  we  know,  Etruria  might  have 
been  Etruria  still,  the  one  great  ruling  power  of 
Italy.  But  it  was  not  so  decreed  in  the  councils 
of  Heaven;  and  Porsenna  having  disarmed  and 
thoroughly  humbled  the  Romans,  b.  c.  508,  having, 
as  he  thought,  drawn  the  lion's  teeth,  when  he  had 
only  shortened  his  claws,  returned  to  his  own  home. 
He  left  behind  him  the  memory  of  an  unhoped-for 
magnanimity,  and  his  statue  of  bronze  was  set  up 
by  decree  of  the  senate  in  the  Roman  forum  ;  and 
he  bore  away  with  him  the  signs  of  submission  and 
tribute,  in  the  ivory  throne,  golden  sceptre,  and 
golden  diadem,  with  which  the  humbled  Romans 
presented  him.  It  is  not  too  much  to  suppose  that 
the  Romans  spared  Chiusi  in  after  times,  and  treated 
it  more  as  an  ally  than  most  of  the  other  cities, 
because  they  could  never  forget  Porsenna  without 
forgetting  themselves.  It  has  not  now  a  governor, 
but  as  a  frontier  town  it  must  ever  be  a  place  of 
some  importance,  and  it  is  one  of  great  interest, 
great  beauty,  and  immortal  renown. 

As  Clusium  is  peculiarly  rich  in  inscriptions,  and 
as  almost  all  that  is  known  with  certainty  with  re- 
spect to  these  relates  to  proper  names,  the  present 
appears  to  be  an  appropriate  place  to  introduce  some 
remarks  on  the  subject  of  Etruscan  families,  and 


{ 


\ 


487 

the  relation  of  different  branches  to  each  other,  to- 
ffether  with  the  influence  of  maternal  descent,  which 
is  marked  amongst  them  by  varied  terminations. 
The  three  names  which  were  common  to  Romans, 
and  the  Roman  distinction  between  the  name  of  a 
gens  and  that  of  a  family,  were  unknown  in  Etruria  ; 
for  among  the  few  Etruscan  names  which  are  fa- 
miliar to  us  in  Roman  history,  and  the  many  which 
occur  in  funereal  inscriptions,  there  appear  only 
those  which,  in  modern  times,  are  called  christian 
and  sirname,  and  never  the  more  general  designa- 
tion which  in  Rome  bound  together  many  indi- 
vidual families  as  members  of  a  common  gens. 

We  find  indeed  three  names,  or  two  family  names, 
in  use  among  those  Etruscans  who  were  settled  in 
Rome,  and  conformed  to  Roman  u)anners,  as  in  the 
instance  of  Coelius  Vibenna,  Vestricius  Spurinna, 
and  Cilnius  Msecenas ;  but  here  there  was  no  adop- 
tion of  a  gentilitial  classification,  there  was  merely 
the  assumption  of  another  family  name  in  addition 
to  that  which  they  had  before.  These  patronymics 
were  preserved  unaltered  for  ages,  and  were  only 
in  so  far  modified  by  each  generation  as  they  were 
influenced  by  marriage  or  maternal  descent.  Etru- 
ria was  a  strictly  aristocratic  country,  and  one  in 
which  pride  of  birth  was  encouraged  by  every 
national  institution.  We  may  conceive  how  great 
it  must  have  been  in  free  and  dominant  Etruria, 
from  the  traces  which  we  have  of  it  in  some  of  the 
works  of  Latin  authors  during  the  ages  of  its  depres- 
sion and  progressive  downfall.     Although  Horace 


486 


CLUSIUM. 


487 


history  of  the  world,  and  have  razed  to  the  ground 
the  city  of  Rome  before  her  republic  began.     She 
would  then  have  been  known  as  the  child  of  Alba 
Longa,  and  as  nothing  more,  excepting  in  so  far 
as  she  was  great  and  powerful  under  the  Tarqui- 
nians,  and,  for  aught  we  know,  Etruria  might  have 
been  Etruria  still,  the  one  great   ruling  power  of 
Italy.     But  it  was  not  so  decreed   in  the  councils 
of  Heaven;    and  Porsenna  having   disarmed   and 
thoroughly  humbled  the  Romans,  b.  c.  508,  having, 
as  he  thought,  drawn  the  lion's  teeth,  when  he  had 
only  shortened  his  claws,  returned  to  his  own  home. 
He  left  behind  him  the  memory  of  an  unhoped-for 
magnanimity,  and  his  statue  of  bronze  was  set  up 
by  decree  of  the  senate  in  the  Roman   forum  ;  and 
he  bore  away  with  him  the  signs  of  submission  and 
tribute,   in   the   ivory   throne,  golden  sceptre,  and 
golden  diadem,  with  which   the  humbled  Romans 
presented  him.     It  is  not  too  much  to  suppose  that 
the  Romans  spared  Chiusi  in  after  times,  and  treated 
it  more  as  an  ally  than  most  of  the  other  cities, 
because  they  could  never  forget  Porsenna  without 
forgetting  themselves.     It  has  not  now  a  governor, 
but  as  a  frontier  town  it  must  ever  be  a  place  of 
some  importance,  and  it  is  one  of  great  interest, 
great  beauty,  and  immortal  renown. 

As  Clusium  is  peculiarly  rich  in  inscriptions,  and 
as  almost  all  that  is  known  with  certainty  with  re- 
spect to  these  relates  to  proper  names,  the  present 
appears  to  be  an  appropriate  place  to  introduce  some 
remarks  on  the  subject  of  Etruscan  families,  and 


I 


the  relation  of  different  branches  to  each  other,  to- 
gether with  the  influence  of  maternal  descent,  which 
is  marked  amongst  them  by  varied  terminations. 
The  three  names  which  were  common  to  Romans, 
and  the  Roman  distinction  between  the  name  of  a, 
gens  and  that  of  a  family,  were  unknown  in  Etruria  ; 
for  among;  the  few  Etruscan  names  which  are  fa- 
miliar  to  us  in  Roman  history,  and  the  many  which 
occur  in  funereal  inscriptions,  there  appear  only 
those  which,  in  modern  times,  are  called  christian 
and  sirname,  and  never  the  more  general  designa- 
tion which  in  Rome  bound  together  many  indi- 
vidual families  as  members  of  a  common  gens. 

We  find  indeed  three  names,  or  two  family  names, 
in  use  among  those  Etruscans  who  were  settled  in 
Rome,  and  conformed  to  Roman  manners,  as  in  the 
instance  of  Coelius  Vibenna,  Vestricius  Spurinna, 
and  Cilnius  Maecenas ;  but  here  there  was  no  adop- 
tion of  a  gentilitial  classification,  there  was  merely 
the  assumption  of  another  family  name  in  addition 
to  that  which  they  had  before.  These  patronymics 
were  preserved  unaltered  for  ages,  and  were  only 
in  so  far  modified  by  each  generation  as  they  were 
influenced  by  marriage  or  maternal  descent.  Etru- 
ria was  a  strictly  aristocratic  country,  and  one  in 
which  pride  of  birth  was  encouraged  by  every 
national  institution.  We  may  conceive  how  great 
it  must  have  been  in  free  and  douiinant  Etruria, 
from  the  traces  which  we  have  of  it  in  some  of  the 
works  of  Latin  authors  during  the  ages  of  its  depres- 
sion and  progressive  downfall.     Although  Horace 


i; 


488 


declares  that  Maecenas  set  little  value  on  his  nobi- 
lity, yet  his  frequent  allusions  to  it  show  that  the 
Roman  knight  was  not  a  little  proud  of  his  descent 
from  ancient  kings.  Cicero  lays  some  stress  upon 
Aulus  Csecina  of  Arezzo  being  among  the  noblest 
in  all  Etruria.  And  Persius  the  poet,  a  native  of 
Volterra,  advises  a  modest  student,  like  himself,  of 
Etruscan  lineage,  and  no  Roman  grandee  or  patri- 
cian, but  of  respectable  middling  station,  not  to  be 
proud  of  his  venerable  family  tree,  or  of  his  descent 
from  illustrious  ancestors  in  the  thousandth  gene- 
ration :  "  Stemmate  Tusco  ramum  millesimum  ducit^ 
Thus  we  see  that  the  vanquished  and  subject  Etrus- 
cans, though  in  Rome  neither  patrician  nor  noble, 
were  as  proud  of  their  illustrious  pedigree  as  their 
masters  were  of  a  long  line  of  consular  images. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  in  Etruscan  sepulchral  in- 
scriptions, the  name  of  the  mother  occurs  at  least 
as  frequently  as  that  of  the  father,  and  always  in 
conjunction  with  the  patronymic.  Thus  in  the 
same  grave  we  recognise  two  sarcophagi  as  those  of 
a  mother  and  a  son,  from  the  inscriptions  on  the 
first — Larthia  Fuisinei  Lecnesa.or  Larthia^  daughter 
of  the  house  of  Fuisine,  and  wedded  to  a  Lecne  or 
Licinius  ;  and  Arnth  Lecne  Fuisinal,  or  Aruns  Lecne 
or  Licinius,  son  of  a  daughter  of  the  family  of 
Fuisine,  From  this  equal  importance  which  seems 
to  have  been  attached  to  maternal  nobility  as  to 
paternal,  we  may  conceive  that  women  held  a  much 
higher  place  in  Etruscan  society  than  in  that  of 
Greece  or  Rome;     and  this  is  confirmed    by  the 


489 


prominent  part  which  they  are  always  represented 
as  taking  in  banquets  and  social  intercourse. 
Horace  compliments  Maecenas  on  his  maternal  as 
well  as  paternal  ancestor  having  formerly  com- 
manded mighty  legions.  It  is  probable  that  Cil- 
nius  or  Cfelne  was  the  patronymic  of  Maecenas,  and 
that  Maecenas  or  Maecne  was  the  name  of  his  ma- 
ternal ancestry  ;  so  that  if  he  had  lived  and  died  in 
Etruria,  he  would  have  been  known  as  Larth  or 
Aale,  (I  know  not  what  was  his  name  corresponding 
to  our  christian  name,)  Cfelne  Mecnatial,  or  Lars 
or  Aulus  Cilnius,  whose  mother  was  a  Maecenas. 
But  when  he  settled  in  Rome,  he  conformed  to 
Roman  usage,  and  assumed  Maecenas,  as  those 
around  him  used  their  gentilitial  name.  The 
Cfelnes  and  Maecnes  appear  as  totally  distinct  fami- 
lies; and  the  former  are  noted  in  many  sepulchral 
inscriptions,  for  they  were  in  truth  among  the 
noblest  and  greatest  in  Etruria;  but  there  is  no 
evidence  of  their  having  ever  been  united  together, 
except  in  the  person  of  the  friend  of  Augustus.  In 
like  manner  must  the  names  of  Coelius  Vibenna,  or 
Cape  Fipinal,  and  Vestricius  Spurinna,  or  Festrice 
Spurinal,  have  been  compounded  together ;  for 
Cale,  Fipi,  Festrice,  and  Spurina,  do  all  occur  as 
names  of  distinct  noble  Etruscan  houses. 

In  Etruria  the  first-born  possessed  all  the 
exclusive  prerogatives  of  the  highest  aristocratic 
distinction  and  religious  consideration.  He  was 
the  prince  of  the  house,  and  its  representative 
in  the  great   national   councils;    and  in  the  high 

Y  6 


t  I  \ 


v1 


490 


priestly  families  the  right  of  primogeniture  seems 
to  have  been  equally  exclusive.     Lucumo  was  the 
title  by   which  his  dignity  was    expressed,    while 
Lar,  or  Lars,  appears  to  have  been  a  prenomen  pe- 
culiar to  him;  and  Arnth,  or  Aruns,  was  appro- 
priated to  younger  branches  of  the  family.     Unfor- 
tunately our  knowledge  is  very  defective  as  to  the 
connexion  of  the  great  Etruscan  families  with  the 
soil,  or  whether   they  were  permitted  to  exercise 
commerce.     We  know  that  in  Etruria  trade  was 
carried  on  to  a  great  extent  with  all  parts  of  the 
known  world,  and  that  there  must  have  been  many 
excessively  rich  merchants ;  but  what  relation  they 
bore  to  the  aristocracy,  or  what  was  the  condition  of 
the  non-noble  population,  are  points  which  we  have 
as  yet   discovered   no   means  of  ascertaining.     We 
know  that  the  great    nobles   possessed    extensive 
territories,  which  were  cultivated  by  their  serfs  ;  and 
Niebuhr,  in  his  Roman  history,  seems  to  think  that 
these  estates  may  have  been  handed  down  from  time 
immemorial  as  a  species  of  majorat,  without  suiFer- 
ing  partition. 

The  Caecinas  of  Volterra  either  gave  their  name 
to  a  neighbouring  river,  or  derived  it  from  thence, 
as  was  the  case  with  the  Perugian  family  of  Tins, 
or,  as  it  was  probably  pronounced,  Tinesa — Latin, 
Tinesius,  and  both  had  great  possessions  on  the 
banks  of  their  native  streams.  The  Caecina  was  the 
noblest  family  in  Volterra,  and  as  we  have  traces  of 
it  during  a  longer  and  down  to  a  more  recent  time 
than  any  other  in  Etruria,  I  may  be  forgiven  for 


491 


setting  down  one  or  two  notices  of  it ;  and  the 
funereal  effigy  of  one  of  its  wives  or  daughters 
shall  give  to  the  reader  a  specimen  of  one  of  the 
finest  sarcophagi  in  existence.  A  member  of  this 
family  employed  the  eloquence  of  Cicero,  who  cele- 
brates him  for  his  high  nobility,  and,  above  all,  he 
was  deeply  learned  in  the  religious  discipline  of  his 
country.  The  name  of  a  Csecina  Tuscus  occurs  in 
Tacitus.  This  race  seems  to  have  had  a  remark- 
able attachment  to  its  home,  and  to  its  paternal 
estates,  where  it  is  said  to  have  existed  during  a 
thousand  years  in  honour  and  dignity,  and  where, 
so  late  as  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Honorius, 
Ceecina  Decius  Albinus  lived  in  good  old  Etruscan 
style,  in  a  villa  on  the  banks  of  his  native  river, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Volterra,  His  son  Acina- 
tius  was  prefect  of  the  city,  under  Honorius  and 
Theodosius,  in  a.  d.  408  and  423,  and  his  grandson 
of  his  own  name  was  consul  in  a.  d.  444.  The 
members  of  this  family  may  be  considered  among 
the  ultimi  Etruscorum  as  regards  learning,  and,  in 
particular,  a  rigid  adherence  to  their  ancient  na- 
tional religion.  They  were  the  intimate  friends  of 
Symmachus  and  Rutilius.  There  is,  or  lately  was, 
a  family  of  Volterra  of  this  name,  and  there  can  be 
little  reasonable  doubt  also  of  this  illustrious  descent. 
It  is  almost  impossible  that  it  can  trace  the  links 
of  its  pedigree  through  the  cheerless  gloom  and 
innumerable  revolutions  of  the  dark  ages;  but 
going  upon  strong  probability,  it  may  lay  a  fair 
claim   to  priority  of  nobility   over    any   house   in 


492 


Europe,  not  excepting  Capet,  Este,  or  one  or  two 
of  the  most  ancient  in  Venice.  The  plate  of  the 
monument  here  given,  represents  a  sarcophagus 
now  in  the  museum  of  Paris.  It  is  that  of  a  young 
matron  of  five-and-twenty.  The  style  seems  almost 
as  late  as  at  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar. 

Among  the  most  common  prenomina  of  the 
Etruscans  were  Larth  or  Lars,  Arnth  or  Aruns, 
Aule  or  Aulus,  Fel  or  Velius,  Cuinte  or  Quintus, 
Sethne  or  Sextus,  among  men  ;  and  Larthia,  Arnta, 
Aele  or  Aula,  Thana,  (which  was  the  root  of  the 
celebrated  Tanchufil  or  Tanaquil,)  Felia,  Sethra, 
Titia,  Phastia,  Ane  and  Ramta,  among  women  ;  and 
all  of  these  are  of  frequent  recurrence  in  sepulchral 
inscriptions  in  most  of  the  cities  of  ancient  Etruria. 
Among  the  most  distinguished  family  names  of 
which  we  have  notices,  are  the  following : — Cfelne 
or  Cilnius,  the  first  in  Arretium  (Arezzo)  for  w^ealth 
and  nobility.  In  the  year  1728,  an  ancient  and 
simple  family  vault  was  opened  not  far  from  Sienna, 
in  a  spot  which  was  said  to  have  belonged  to  the 
territory  of  Arretium,  prior  to  the  foundation  of  the 
colony  of  Sena,  and  in  it  were  found  twenty  wine 
vessels,  some  sepulchral  urns  of  travertin,  and  other 
large  vases  of  terra  cotta  without  ornament,  but  all 
inscribed  with  the  name  of  Cfelne,  and  containing 
the  ancestral  remains  of  him  who  was  in  after  times 
distinguished  as  the  most  refined  and  accomplished 
of  the  Roman  Great.  Maecenas,  or  Msecne,  was 
another  great  Arretian  family.  And  both  of  these 
have  been  celebrated  by  the  illustrious  poetic  friend 
of  their  descendant. 


I  . 


I 


/ 


I 


I 

I 


s 
ft 

I 


493 


"  Though,  since  the  Lydians  filled  the  Tuscan  coasts, 
No  richer  blood  than  yours  Etruria  boasts. 
Though  your  great  ancestors  have  armies  led." 

HoR.  Sat.  6,  &c.  &c. 

In  Volterra  we  have  already  mentioned  the  Caecinas 
or  Ceicnes  as  the  most  illustrious.  Their  tomb  was 
found  at  a  place  called  Campo  Nero,  belonging  to 
the  Franceschini,  and  contained  ten  sepulchral  urns, 
seven  with  Etruscan  and  three  with  Roman  inscrip- 
tions. In  Volsinii,  one  of  the  chief  families  was 
the  Musonii  or  Musu,  and  it  v/as  disgraced  by  being 
the  cradle  of  the  race  of  iElius  Sejanus,  the  worth- 
less minister  of  Tiberius,  w^ho  is  called  by  Juvenal 
the  favourite  of  Nortia,  i.  e.  the  tutelary  god- 
dess of  the  town,  and  in  old  times  the  peculiar 
object  of  adoration  of  Caeles  Vibenna,  and  of  the 
good  Mastarna.  From  Ferentinum  sprang  the 
race  of  the  Salfi  or  Salvii,  the  ancestors  of  the  Em- 
peror Otho,  and  the  Flavii  or  Pflafe,  from  whom 
sprang  Flavins  Scevinus,  who  conspired  against 
Nero.  In  Perugia  we  have  the  Tins,  Anaine,  An- 
cari,  Aulni  Aphune,  Caspri,  Canxna,  Felani,  Felche, 
Tite  Fesi,  Fipi,  of  which  family,  spread  to  Volsinii, 
Caeles  Vibenna  was  a  branch — Meteli,  perhaps  re- 
mote ancestors  of  Csecilia  Metella,  Pumpu  or 
Pomponii,  Petru  or  Petronii,  Nuphrxna,  Velimnia 
or  Volumnius.  In  Clusium  we  have  the  Pursue  or 
Porsenna,  which  once  gave  a  king  to  its  native 
state,  who  seems  to  have  been  elected  sovereign  of 
all  Etruria,  the  Ani,  Alphna,  Arnxle,  Carna  or 
Carinius,  Fuisine  or  Volsienus,  Trepu  or  Trebonius. 


\ 


ft 


494 


In   Tarquinii   we   have  the  Festreni    or  Vestricii, 
Urinate,  Csesennii,  Marce  and  Matulne. 

Here  I  close  ray   Etruscan  red  book,  and   ask 
the   readers   pardon    for   having    set    before    him 
so   many   hard   names.      They   are,    however,  all 
of  them    names   which  have  been    great   and    re- 
nowned in  the  old  world,  and  some  possess  interest 
from  their  connexion  with  characters  with   whom 
we    have   become   familiar    in    Roman  history.     If 
our  Cliffords,  Talbots,  Howards,  Greys,  and  Stan- 
leys  continue  upon  record  for  as  many  thousand 
years  as  those  old  Pumpus  and  Pursues,  they  will 
owe  it  solely  to  the  happy  invention  of  tlie  printing 
press,  and  the  possible  preservation  of  Collins'  Peer- 
age as  a  great  curiosity ;  for  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  the  grandees  of  Etruria  occupied  a  place  in  tiie 
history  of  the  world,  as  it  then   was,  much   more 
illustrious  than  that  of  our  own  ancestors  in  the 
more  remote  periods  of  English  history,  with  which 
a  natural  pride  of  race  fondly  connects  itself.     And 
it  may  be,  that  if  the  destinies  of  the  eartli  are  not 
(as  some  of  the  best  and  wisest  among  us  think) 
nearly  accomplished,  we  shall  have  future  antiqua- 
rian magnates  of  Australia  or  Liberia,  the  ennobled 
posterity  of  a  convict  Abershaw  or  a  manumitted 
Sambo,    painfully    deciphering,    amid    crumbling 
arches   and  moss-grown  monuments,  the   illegible 
records  of  an    extinct    and  long-forgotten  line   of 
Rutland,  Hamilton,  or  Somerset.     That  the  fashion 
of  this  world  passeth  away,  is  a  truth  which  might  be 
sufficiently  impressed  upon  us  by  what  we  feel  within 


496 


us  and  see  around  us.  But  habit  makes  us  callous  to 
such  impressions,  and  we  are  sometimes  more  effec- 
tually roused  from  our  careless  and  forgetful  apathy 
by  the  sight  of  perish ableness  on  a  grand  scale,  than 
by  what  comes  within  our  own  narrow  experience. 
In  this  way  empires  blotted  from  the  page  of 
history,  cities  ground  down  even  to  the  dust,  and 
noblest  races  extinguished  in  oblivion,  may  preach 
to  us  a  most  valuable  sermon, — that  if  all  these  have 
had  but  so  transient  an  endurance,  what  is  our  own 
life  ?  "  It  is  truly  a  vapour  that  appeareth  for  a 
little  time,  and  then  vanisheth  away." 

An  acquaintance  with  sepulchral  inscriptions 
serves  to  convince  us  that  gentilitial  names  were 
never  used  in  Etruria ;  I  mean  such  names  as 
were,  in  the  Roman  commonwealth,  the  connecting 
links  as  to  civil  privileges  and  sacred  rites  of  a 
number  of  different  families  who  formed  a  gens, 
and  who  might  or  might  not  be  connected  together 
in  blood.  It  is  quite  an  error  to  imagine,  that  all 
the  members  of  the  gens  were  remote  branches  of 
the  same  common  stock :  they  may  occasionally 
have  been  so,  but  they  commonly  were  families, 
who,  for  the  sake  of  convenience  or  protection  at 
some  remote  period,  clubbed  together,  and  for 
mutual  benefit  conformed  to  certain  common  rules, 
and  performed  certain  common  religious  duties. 
In  examining  a  great  number  of  sarcophagi,  you 
will  see  no  common  name  constantly  occurring, 
like  that  of  Cornelius  for  instance,  which  was  the 
gentilitial  name  of  many  Roman  families.  The  ter- 
minations al^  sa,  and  ei,  have  much  importance  in 


1  . 


496 


determining   and    modifying    the    Etruscan    family 
names.     Al  denotes  a  patronymic  or  a  matronymic; 
when  joined  to  a  prenomen  it  denotes  the  former, 
and  when  joined  to  a  family  name  the  latter.     In 
inscriptions  it  is  common  to  find  four  names:  l,the 
prenomen  of  the  deceased ;  2,  his  paternal   family 
name;    3,  the  prenomen  of  his   father,   generally 
contracted,  and   to  which  the  al  must  be  supplied  ; 
4,  the  family  name  of  his  mother,  terminating  in  al. 
Thus  Ls  Tetina  Ls  Spurinal ;  or  Laris,  a  member 
of  the  family  of  Tetina,  son  of  another  Laris,  by 
his  wife,  a  daughter  of  the  family  of  Spurina,  i.  e. 
Laris   Tetina  Larisal  Spurinal;  Ltli    Causlim   Lth 
Fipinal,  or   Larth    Causlim,    son    of    Larth    by    a 
daughter  of  the  Fipi,  i.  e.  Larth    Causlim  Larthal 
FipinaL     The  terminations  sa  and  ei  belong  exclu- 
sively to  the  female  members  of  families  ;  the  former, 
when  added  to  a  name,  indicating  that  it  had  been 
assumed  in  consequence  of  marriage,  and  the  latter 
pointing  out  tho  lady's  own   family.     Let  us  take, 
by  way  of  example,  the  sepulchral  urns  of  the  family 
of  Lecne,  found  not  far  from  Sienna.— There  are 
eight  inscriptions. 

L  Fel  Lecne  Fisce  Larcnal.  2.  A  Lecne  A  Alth- 
nial.  3.  Tanchufil  Sefctnei  Lecnesa.  4.  Tanchfil 
Phrenlnei  Tebatnal  Lecnesa.  5.  Lth  Titei  Lecnesa 
Cainal.  6.  Larthia  Fuisinei  Lecnesa.  7.  A  Lecne 
Fuisinal.  8.  A  Lecne  Fuisinal  Arthal. 
Of  these  four  are  men — 

1.  Fel  Lecne  Fisce  Larcnal. 

2.  A  Lecne  A  Althnial. 
7.  A  Lecne  Fuisinal. 


497 

8.  A  Lecne  Fuisinal  Arthal. 
And  four  are  women — 

3.  Tanchfil  Sefctnei  Lecnesa. 

4.  Tanchfil  Phrelnei  Tebatnal  Lecnesa. 

5.  Lth  Titei  Lecnesa  Cainal. 

6.  Larthia  Fuisinei  Lecnesa. 
These  may  be  thus  explained — 

1 .  Fel  or  Velius  Lecne,  son  of  Fisce  Lecne,  by  a 
lady  of  the  house  of  Larcne. 

2.  Arnth  Lecne,  son  of  Arnth  Lecne,  by  a  lady 
of  the  house  of  Althne. 

7.  Arnth  Lecne,  son  of  a  mother  of  the  house  of 

Fuisine. 

8.  Arnth  Lecne,  son  of  a  mother  of  the  house  of 
Fuisine,  and  of   a  father  whose  name  was  Arnth 

Lecne. 

3.  Tanchfil,  of  the  family  Sefctne,  wife  of  a  Lecne. 

4.  Tanchfil,  of  the  family  Phrelne,  by  a  mother  of 
the  family  of  Tebatne,  and  wife  of  a  Lecne. 

5.  Larthia,  of  the  family  of  Tite,  wife  of  a  Lecne ; 
her  mother  was  of  the  family  of  Caine. 

6.  Larthia,  of  the  family  of  Fuisine,  wife  of  a 
Lecne. 

The  fashions  appear  to  have  changed  in  diff'erent 
generations  as  to  minute  particulars,  but  that  is  no 
more  than  was  to  be  expected.  For  instance,  the 
successive  Mesdames  Lecne  sometimes  stated  their 
mother's  name  and  sometimes  omitted  it,  which 
might  depend  upon  its  being  more  or  less  distin- 
guished ;  and  they  sometimes  placed  it  immediately 
after  their  own  family  name,  as  in  No.  4,  and  some- 


498 


499 


times  after  their  husband's  name,  as  in  No.  5.  In 
like  manner,  Mr.  Lecne,  No.  7,  has  treated  his 
father's  memory  unhandsomely,  by  omitting  to  name 
him,  while  he  of  No.  1  has  made  it  to  precede,  and 
he  of  No.  8  to  follow,  his  matronymic.  From  these 
materials  we  may  arrange  a  tolerably  distinct  family 
tree  for  some  generations,  and  we  shall  see  whether 
any  reader  of  these  pages,  in  a  future  edition  of 
Debrett  or  Burke,  will  attempt  to  connect  the  blood 
of  some  modern  British  race  with  the  purple  stream 
of  ancient  Etruria.  I  could  point  out,  if  I  chose, 
many  derivations  scarcely  less  ridiculous  in  most  of 
our  books  of  pedigree ! 


Lecnk  with  father's  prenora  : 
and  mother's  family  unknown. 


Wife  unknown. 


A  lady  of  the 
family  Larcne. 


Fisce  Leone. 


Arnth  Lecne.     


FEL  LECNE  FISCE  LARCNAL, 

iNo.  1  )    of  the  sarcophagi. 

Probably  he  died  without  issue ;  at 
least  none  are  mentioned  in  the 
sarcophagi  as  being  descended  from 
him. 


ARNTH  LECNE  ARNTH AL 
ALTHNIAL.    (No.  2  ) 


A  lady  of  the 
family  Althne. 

LARTHIA 

_    of   the    family    of 
FUISINE. 

(No.  8.) 


ARNTH  LECNE  FUISI- 
NAL.  On  account  of  some 
unhappy  political  or  private 
pique,  he  quarrelled  with  his 
father,  and  did  not  add  his 
prenomen  to  his  own. 

(No.  7.) 


ARNTH  LECNE  F(  LSj- 
NAL  ARTHAL  probably  in- 
herited the  bulk  of  the  pater- 
nal property,  and,  as  in  duty 
bound,  took  his  father's  pre- 
nomen in  full,  and  put  it  in 
the  place  of  honour.*  (No.  H.) 


No  issue  from  these  two  brothers  is  mentioned 
Lecne  is  the  family  of  Licinius,  driven  away  from  Arezzo  in  A.  R.  454  for  tyranny. 


It  is,  however,  certain  that  both  of  these  brothers, 
and  their  father's  first  cousin,  Fel  Lecne  Fisce,  were 
married  ;  for  we  have  three  matrons  to  dispose  of 
in  marriage,  who  were  not  born  in  the  house  of 
Lecne,  but  who  in  their  maiden  state  rejoiced  in  the 
names  of  Sefctne,  Phrelne,  and  Tite ;  all,  doubtless, 
ancient  and  noble  families,  but  whose  only  right  to 
mingle  their  dust  with  the  Lecnes  was  marriage ; 
as  denoted  by  the  termination  sa,  which  changed 
Ladies  Tanaquil  Sefctne  or  No.  3,  Tanaquil  Phrelne 
or  No.  4,  and  Larthia  Tite  or  No.  5,  into  the  happy 
sharers  of  the  wealth  and  honours  of  this  noble 
house,  making  them  all  Lecnesa.  But  the  reader 
must  fix  for  himself,  and  herein  I  cannot  assist  him, 
to  which  of  the  three  gentlemen  in  want  of  wives 
they  are  respectively  to  be  united. 


500 


CONCLUSION. 


501 


CONCLUSION. 


We  did  not  explore  any  further  amongst  the 
sepulchres  of  Etruria,  but  we  visited  many  of  her 
still  existing  towns  ;  and  as  gigantic  remains  of  the 
nation  are  scattered  throughout  Central  Italy,  which 
may  prove  very  interesting  to  the  inquiring  tra- 
veller, I  will  add,  in  conclusion,  a  few  notices  of 
such  as  are  best  known,  or  best  worth  knowing. 
The  chief  cities  of  old  Etruria  in  Tuscany  are, 
Fiesole,  xlrezzo,  Cortona,  Roselle,  Sienna,  Volterra, 
Populonia,  and  Saturnia.  Lucca  and  Pisa  are 
both  cities  of  Etruscan  foundation,  but  I  am  not 
aware  of  any  remains  in  them  that  can  be  traced 
up  higher  than  the  Roman  time.  The  Etruscan 
papal  cities  are  Bologna  or  Felsinia,  where  vases 
have  been  found  of  the  old  manufacture,  and  where 
the  museum  contains  many  curiosities;  Gubbio, 
Macerata,  Perugia,  Assisi,  Todi  or  Tuder,  Norcia, 


Terni,  Civita  Castellana,  Nepi,  Sutri,  Bolsena,  Cossa, 
AlbanOjTusculum,  and  Rome. 

South  of  Rome  are  Capua,  (or,  as  it  is  used  to  be 
called,  Volturna,)  Nola,  Herculaneum,  and  Pompeii; 
but  it  is  not  my  intention  to  give  any  description  of 
these  last,  beyond  the  remains  of  Rome,  with  which 
I  began,  and  with  which  I  shall  end. 

The  Florence  Gallery   in   the  Palazzo  Vecchio 
claims  mention  as  containing  invaluable  specimens 
of  Etruscan  art ;  as  it  is  seen  by  every  stranger,  it 
would  not  require  to  be  pointed  out,  only  that  what 
happened  to  myself  may  very  likely  happen  also  to 
others.     My  senses  long  refused  to  believe  the  things 
they  saw,  and  when  I  walked  amongst  the  Etruscan 
sculptures   and    idols,   the    beautiful   marbles,   the 
strange  cinerary  urns,  and,  above  all,  the  wonderful 
bronzes,  I  did  not  believe  them  to  be  antique,   nor 
yet  that  they  were  meant  to  be  shown  as  such  ;  I 
thought  that  they  were  copies,  or  restorations,  or 
imaginations  of  the  antique;  and  therefore  I  beg  to 
assure  my  countrymen,  that  the  chimera,  the  bronze 
boy,  the  statue  of  Metellus,  and  all  the  other  won- 
derful things  which  they  see  in  these  rooms,  have 
not  known  the  human  chisel  for  the  last  two  thou- 
sand years,  and  many  of  them  are  centuries  older. 
Who,  without  the  assurance  of  deeply  learned  per- 
sons, could  believe  that  the  false  eyes,  the  wig  vases, 
and  the  wooden  curule  chairs,  could   boast  an  anti- 
quity so  remote  ?     Yet  one  loses  the  whole  pleasure 
and  benefit  of  the  thing  without  this  previous  know- 
ledge; the  more  so  that  the  English  are  so  sus- 


502 


CONCLUSION. 


picious  of  humbug,  that  they  are  slower  than  any 
other  nation  in  ascertaining  and  feeling  convinced 
respecting  these  truths. 

FIESOLE— -CITY    OF   THE    LEAGUE. 

One   whole   day  may   suffice  to   view   its   many 
remains;  vast  portions  of  the  ancient  walls  may  be 
seen  in  four  different  places,  chiefly  to  the  north  and 
west.     We  saw  one  stone  thirteen  feet  long,  rectan- 
gular,  and  forming  part  of  a  wall  without  cement. 
On  the  north  is  an  ancient  gate,  but  of  Roman  res- 
toration  ;  such  also  is  the  amphitheatre  discovered 
m  1806,  though  many  antiquaries  think  that  it  was 
not  erected  until  the  time  of  Sylla,  who  turned  the 
Etruscan  city  into  a  Roman  colony.     Some  remains 
are  visible  of  the  ancient  tower  behind  the  present 
cathedral,  and  of  the  ancient  citadel  on  a  heio-ht  to 
the  west,  occupied  by  the  convent  of  San  Francesco. 
We  descended  into  some  caverns  hewn  in  the  rock 
which  had  been  graves,  and  out  of  which  a  German' 
IS  said  to  have  extracted  two  bodies  covered  with 
ornanaents,  and  much  treasure  in  gold  and  bronze. 
The  old  cathedral  of  San  Alessandro  is  only  worth 
visitingto  the  antiquary.     It  stands  upon  a  chris- 
tian  church,  built  in  the  days  of  Theodosius,  and  this 
again  was  erected  upon  the  old  Etruscan  temple  of 
which  sundry  niches  exist,  now  used  for  keeping 
relics.     The  columns  in  the  church,  sixteen  in  num- 
ber, unpolished  and  of  Cipolino  marble,  once  be- 
longed to  this  temple.     San  Alessandro  is  the  oldest 
basilica  in  Tuscany,  and  was  once  called  St.  Peter's 


CONCLUSION. 


503 


of  Jerusalem.  The  theatre  was  excavated  in  1819 
by  the  Prussian  Baron  Friedman  Shellerstein,  who 
uncovered  twenty  steps  and  six  gates,  also  a  podium 
with  three  steps,  the  work  of  the  Romans,  but  in 
the  oldest  manner,  and  regularly  built,  the  stone 
being  united  by  the  most  tenacious  cement.  The 
canons  have  covered  the  greater  part  of  this  up 
again,  because  the  surface  is  useful  for  vines,  and 
will  yield  a  few  scudi  per  annum.  Not  far  from 
this  are  some  caves  called  "  Buche  della  Fate,"  of 
built  arches,  which  have  supported  some  large  build- 
ing. In  the  Borgo  Unto  is  an  Etruscan  subter- 
ranean work  of  uncertain  purpose,  but  very  curious. 
We  saw  six  or  nine  steps  which  lead  to  the  shaft 
of  a  mine,  and  this  mine  terminates  in  an  arch 
above  a  spring  of  water.  There  are  also  Etruscan 
ruins  near  La  Doccia.  No  one  going  up  tj  Fiesole 
should  omit  seeing  the  paintings  of  Beato  Angelico, 
and  the  terra  cotta  groups  of  Lucca  della  Robbia, 
which  abound  in  the  town  and  upon  the  road. 

AREZZO    OR    ARRETIUM — CITY    OF   THE    LEAGUE. 

A  beautiful  and  interesting  place,  which  will 
occupy  a  day.  Inn,  Albergo  Reale,  very  good.  The 
walls  are  Etruscan,  and  brick  was  employed  in 
their  construction.  The  public  museum  should  be 
visited.  This  town  was  the  native  place  of  the  well- 
known  and  powerful  families  of  Cilneus  or  C.l.ne 
F.l.ne,  and  of  Maecenas.  Here  was  found  the  chi- 
mera of  the  Florence  Gallery,  and  a  bronze  almost 
as  interesting  of  a  yoke  of  oxen  ploughing,  now  in 
the  Collegio  Romano  in  Rome      The  dresses  of  the 


504 


CONCLUSION. 


men,  the  oxen,  and  the  plough,  all  are  native  Etrus- 
can. Arezzo  was  famous  for  its  vases  of  red 
stamped  clay,  of  a  bright  coral  colour.  Pliny,  in 
his  thirty-fifth  book,  says,  they  were  considered 
equal  to  those  of  Samos.  This  town  is  full  of  the 
most  interesting  relics  of  the  middle  ages,  and  pos- 
sesses some  very  fine  and  curious  churches,  rich  in 
painted  glass  and  ornaments.  The  ancient  emblem 
of  this  town  is  a  horse.  It  was  the  birth-place  of 
Petrarch. 

CORTONA — CITY  OF  THE  LEAGUE. 

Close  to   the  memorable  Lake   of  Thrasymene. 
This  town  will  also  occupy  a  day.     It  is  the  ancient 
Corytus  from  which  Dardanus  is  said  to  have  fled, 
and  tradition  reports  it  to  have  been  an  old  city  at 
the  fall  of  Troy.     As  we  approached   it,  the  place 
seemed  to  consist  half  of  rock  and  half  of  wall.     It 
lies  exactly  within  its  ancient  circumference,   and 
two-thirds  of  the  wall  are  undestroyed,  of  magni- 
ficent Etruscan  masonry,  formed  of  blocks  of  marble 
laid    together   without   cement,   having   sometimes 
smaller  stones  between  them,  or   earth   laid  in  to 
fill  up  the  interstices.     For  fully  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
the  ancient  wall   is   uninterrupted— then  comes  a 
portion   which   is  Roman,— then  Etruscan,  then  a 
modern   repair,   and   then    Etruscan    again.      The 
gates  are  all  in  their  ancient  position.  Porta  Monta- 
nina,  Porta  Colonia,  and  Porta  Santa  Maria,  having 
only  the  names  changed.     Who  shall  tell  the  date 
of  these  old  stones  ?  Heaven  looks  upon  Troy,  and 


CONCLUSION. 


605 


alone  knows  where  her  stately  palaces  have  stood, 
but  the  whole  world  may  see  and  admire  the  traces 
of  Etruria.  The  one  lives  in  spirit  and  in  song — 
the  wide  earth  resounds  with  her  history,  whilst  her 
existence  is  treated  as  a  dream  ;  the  other  lives  in 
her  rocks,  her  walls,  and  in  her  tombs,  whilst  the 
fame  of  her  heroes  and  the  names  of  her  artists  are 
alike  uncared  for  and  unknown.  Cortona  was  dead 
as  the  home  of  freedom,  when  Hannibal  occupied 
her  ground. 

From  the  Piazza,  a  street  runs  directly  south,  and 
leads  to  a  double  gate  in  the  ancient  wall,  now 
almost  filled  up,  or  built  up,  and  converted  into  a 
common  sewer.  Continuing  the  circuit.  Porta  San 
Domenico  and  Porta  San  Agostino  are  also  ancient. 
The  upper  part  of  the  wall  has  been  renewed  since 
the  thirteenth  century,  and  is  called  Muro  Senesi, 
because  rebuilt  by  the  people  of  Sienna,  the  allies  of 
Cortona,  in  those  stormy  days  when  it  was  destroyed, 
for  liberty's  sake,  by  the  republic  of  Arezzo.  A 
portion  of  Etruscan  masonry  of  immense  stones  is  to 
be  seen  near  the  Porta  Montanina,  another  below 
the  castle,  and  another  close  to  the  spedale  or  hos- 
pital, and  the  foundation  of  the  Palazzo  Laparelli. 
The  museums,  which  must  be  visited,  aretheMuseo 
Corazzi,  and  the  Museo  Venuti — besides  the  pub- 
lic museum  of  the  academy.  About  half  a  mile 
from  the  Porta  San  Agostino,  without  the  town,  is 
a  curious  Etruscan  building,  called  the  Grotta  of 
Pittagora  ;  it  seems  to  have  been  an  ancient  se- 
pulchre, and  in  the  same  direction  there  is  ano- 

z 


506 


CONCLUSION. 


another  most  extraordinary  building,  which  is  called 
Joseph's  Well — Pozzo  di  Giuseppe.  We  were  not 
told  of  it  until  after  we  had  left  Cortona  in  1839, 
but  it  had  been  lately  discovered,  and  was  very  much 
injured  by  the  man  in  whose  ground  it  lay.  It  was 
described  to  me  as  a  subterranean  temple. 

Near  this  town  was  found  the  famous  terminal 
altar,  with  a  prayer  upon  it  to  Vulcan  or  Sethlans, 
the  account  of  which  I  first  received  from  an  Italian. 
It  is  ugly  but  unique,  and  upon  that  account  invalu- 
able.  The  top  of  it  is  a  circular  stone,  something 
like  a  millstone,  with  these  words  in  Etruscan  cha- 
racters, divided  into  six  lines  : 

5.  Arses,   or       4.  Avertas,  or,  1.  O  Vulcan, 

4.  Vvrses,  5.  Ignem,  2.  reducing  to  ashes, 

1.  Sethlans,  1.  Vulcan,  3.  fee  appeased, 

2.  Tephral,  2.  in  cinerem  redigensque,  4.  avert, 

6.  Apetermni,  6.  apud  terminum,  5.  the  fire, 

3.  Pisestestu.       3.  Piatus  esto.  6.  from  the  boundaries. 

Along  with  this  lay  several  other  pieces  of  stone, 
some  square,  which  have  formed  the  pedestal,  and 
others  triangular,  with  bases  slightly  rounded,  so 
that  six  of  them  laid  together  formed  a  circle  ex- 
actly the  size  of  the  inscribed  stone.  These  were 
placed  one  upon  another,  and  formed  a  short  column 
surmounted  by  the  inscription.  This  altar  was  in 
the  possession  of  the  late  Bishop  of  Lichfield,  and 
was  exposed  at  his  sale  in  March  1840.  The  bishop 
was  justly  proud  of  it,  and  used  to  say,  with  his 
pleasant  wit,  "  This  is  my  Etruscan  Fire  Insurance 
Policy."     We  did  not  bid  for  it,  because  we  thought 


CONCLUSION. 


507 


that  any  sum  which  it  was  in  our  power  to  offer 
would  be  deemed  insufficient  for  such  a  purchase. 
It  was  bought  by  the  British  Museum  for  £6.  6s. ! ! ! 
about  the  value  of  the  carriage  from  Cortona  to 
England.  Cortona  contains  some  first-rate  pictures, 
and  gave  its  name  to  the  famous  painter,  Pietro  da 
Cortona.  Persons  visiting  the  cathedral  should 
observe  the  large  sarcophagus,  said  to  be  that  of  the 
unfortunate  consul  Flaminius.  Many  of  the  churches 
are  worth  examination. 

ROSELLE — A  CITY  OF  THE  LEAGUE. 

Here  is  little  to  be  seen  but  walls ;  the  remains 
of  which,  however,  are  of  very  considerable  extent. 
They  are  built  without  cement,  but  the  stones  are 
not  all  rectangular.  On  the  north-east  is  a  square 
of  ruined  wall  surrounded  by  double  lines,  and 
supposed  to  be  the  ancient  fortress.  Towards  the 
south  are  some  curious  vaults  ;  considerably  to  the 
west  of  this,  and  about  the  ascent  of  the  hill,  are 
some  remains  of  dwellings.  Still  more  to  the  west, 
and  between  the  path  and  the  walk,  are  caverns  in 
travertine,  and  near  the  wall  upon  the  north  are 
more  caverns,  excavated  in  a  very  hard  stone. 
Roselle  is  melancholy  and  interesting. 


SIENNA. 


A  town  so  full  of  works  of  art,  that  it  will  occupy 
two  or  three  days.  The  Etruscan  antiquities  consist 
of  some  portions  of  wall  near  the  church  of  San 

z  2 


508 


CONCLUSION. 


Antonio,    and    of   very     interesting    subterranean 
caverns  and  grottos  near  the  town. 


VOLTERRA — CITY    OF  THE   LEAGUE. 

This  is  generally  held  to  be  the  most  interesting 
of  all  the  Etruscan  cities.  The  Italians  say,  that 
he  who  has  not  seen  Volterra  knows  nothing  of 
Etruria. 

The  inn  is  very  indifferent,  and  the  place  will 
occupy  a  long  day,  the  labours  of  which  we  must 
have  spread  over  two  or  three  days,  had  we  at- 
tempted the  adventure  in  June.  Its  remains  are 
most  imposing,  and  its  public  museum  is  the  richest 
in  Italy,  but  to  see  it  thoroughly,  some  little  interest 
is  necessary  with  the  Director.  The  walls  of  Vol- 
terra are  Etruscan,  and  do  not  now  cover  above  half 
its  ancient  extent.  The  gate  called  "  Porta  all 
Arco"  is  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world.  Its  date 
cannot  be  less  than  six  hundred  years  before  Christ 
—it  may  be,  and  probably  is,  many  centuries  older, 
and  it  is  a  perfectly  circular  arch,  formed  of  immense 
blocks  of  stone  without  cement.  The  keystone, 
and  the  stones  above  each  side-pillar,  are  enormous 
masses  which  have  been  cut  into  heads,  probably 
of  the  protecting  deity  of  Volterra  ;  and  though  no 
features  now  remain,  an  Englishman  told  me,  that 
no  wonder  he  had  ever  seen  had  made  such  an 
impression  upon  him  as  that  centre  stone.  His 
expression  was,  "  I  did  not  know,  until  I  saw  it, 


CONCLUSION, 


509 


\ 


that  the  dumb  stone  could  speak."     I  have  heard 
Italians  say  nearly  the  same  thing.     Tradition  says 
that  it  was  built  by  Tarchon  1186  B.C.,  and  as  the 
arch  was  certainly  known  in  Egypt  three  centuries 
earlier,  there  is  nothing  incredible  in  the  tale,  for 
the    Etruscans    were   in    constant    communication 
with  Egypt  from  the  earliest  to  the  latest  period  of 
their  national  existence.     The  Porta  del  Sarno  at 
Pompeii,   also  Etruscan,    and  the    double    gate  at 
Paestum,  are  faint  resemblances  of  it,  and  in  both 
the  groove  for  the  portcullis  is  still  visible.     This 
gate  is  represented  upon  a  fine  basso-relievo  in  the 
town  museum,  the  subject  of  which  is  the  death  of 
Capaneus,  when,  instead  of  the  soul  passing  through 
the  gates  of  Hades,  it  is  made  to  go  through  the 
gate  of  Volterra,  the  form  of  which  was,  no  doubt, 
more  familiar  to  the   artist.     The  fortress  stands 
within  the  ground  of  the  ancient  citadel,  and  the 
town  preserves  remains  of  baths,  aqueducts,  mineral 
wells,  amphitheatre,  piscina,  cloaca,  ancient  gates, 
and  public  and  private  sepulchres.     Of  these  last, 
those  in  which  the  chief  treasures  were  found  are  now 
covered  in  like  the  mounds  of  Caere,  for  the  sake  of 
the  vines  which  are  placed  over  them.   The  best  spe- 
cimens of  the  walls  are  to  be  seen  at  the  church  of 
the  Menseri,  and  at  Santa  Chiara.    The  cathedral  of 
Volterra  was  restored  by  Nicolo  Pisano,  and  is  a 
very  fine   structure.      The  town  contains  thirteen 
churches  and  eight  convents,  of  which  I  have  a  list, 
and  may  contain  more.     It  was  famous  in  old  times 
for  its   manufacture   of  black    stamped  vases   un- 


510 


CONCLUSION. 


CONCLUSION. 


511 


burned,  and  which  take  a  high  polish.  Those  of 
any  excellence  are  rare,  and  very  beautiful.  Several 
coins  have  been  found,  vrhich  give  the  old  name  of 
the  city,  "  Felathri:"  and  a  number  of  articles  in 
silver,  vases,  tazze,  and  ornaments,  and  one  mosaic, 
which  had  adorned  the  baths.  It  was  also  famous 
for  its  sculptures  in  native  alabaster  and  stone. 
The  monument  of  R.  L.  Cecina  has  already  been 
given  as  a  specimen  of  excellence  in  this  depart- 
ment, though  it  was  not  executed  till  art  was  on 
the  decline,  as  the  inscription  upon  it,  in  Latin  as 
well  as  Etruscan,  testifies.  This  tomb  is  in  the 
museum  at  Paris.  Many  at  Vol  terra  are  consi- 
dered to  be  much  finer,  and  several  of  them  in  this 
style  have  the  garments  coloured  and  gilt.  At 
Campo  Nero  was  found  the  famous  tomb  of  the 
Cecinas.     The  emblem  of  Volterra  is  a  vulture. 

The  works  of  the  grand  duke  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  borax,  near  Volterra,  are  well  worth  all  the 
trouble  requisite  to  visit  them. 

POPULONIA — CITY    OP   THE    LEAGUE. 

Populonia  was  a  colony  of  Volterra  upon  the 
Mediterranean,  or,  as  that  part  of  it  was  then 
called,  the  Tyrrhene  Sea.  About  one-half  of  the 
ancient  Etruscan  wall  remains,  and  it  is  best  seen 
in  the  spot  called  Massi.  There  are  other  ruins, 
but  they  are  Roman,  and  I  question  if  the  place  is 
interesting  to  any  but  an  antiquary.  A  wall  with 
six  arches  is  the  fragment  of  some  Roman  building, 
and  close  to  the  tower  of  Baratti  is  some  Roman 


/ 


L 


pavement.  A  mile  further  north  is  a  perennial 
fount,  once,  no  doubt,  a  place  of  baths,  and  near 
this,  a  little  more  inland,  are  the  ruins  of  the 
docks.  All  the  building  that  remains  is  Roman 
restoration. 

SATURNXA — CITY    OF    THE  LEAGUE. 

Saturnia  is  well  worth  visiting:  and  all  its 
walls  remain  entire,  composed  of  polygonal  blocks 
of  stone  laid  together  without  cement.  This  is 
not,  however,  a  proof  of  its  antiquity,  as  it  and 
Cossa  are  supposed  to  be  the  youngest  of  the 
Etruscan  cities,  and  are  the  only  two  between 
the  Arno  and  the  Tiber  not  built  in  regular 
masses.  Saturnia  preserves  its  ancient  name,  the 
oldest,  perhaps,  of  all  names  in  Italy,  and  has 
some  very  curious  sepulchres.  Parts  of  the  wall 
were  restored  a.  r.  569,  when  it  was  a  Roman 
colony. 

PAPAL    CITIES — GUBBIO. 

Gubbio,  of  which  Ikuvium  was  the  ancient  name, 
is  a  beautiful  place,  deserving  to  be  included  in 
every  Etruscan  tour.  It  was  much  favoured  by 
Rome  after  it  lost  its  liberty,  It  is  an  Umbrian 
city  of  untold  antiquity,  and  was  conquered  by  the 
Etruscans  about  one  thousand  years  before  the 
Christian  era.  Here  are  kept  the  famous  Eugubean 
tables  found  at  La  Scheggia,  a  little  to  the  north  of 
the  town,  in  a.  d.  1444,  close  to  the  site  of  the 
ancient  temple  of  Jove  Apenninus.   They  are  tables 


512 


CONCLUSION. 


of  brass  or  bronze  engraved  on  each  side,  with  a 
long   liturgy,   and  with  the  names  of  places   and 
deities,  and   references  to  local  manners  and    cus- 
toms, which  but  for  them  would  have  been  unknown. 
These  tables  were  seven  in  number:  six  only  are 
preserved.     One  was  sent  to  Venice  to  be  trans- 
lated, before  the  conquest  by   Napoleon,  and   has 
never  been  recovered.      This    table,   and    another 
unique   and   inestimable  gem    which    was    in    the 
Venetian    Library,   viz.  the  old    Italian  MSS.   of 
the  four  gospels,*  sometimes  called  the  "  Italian 
Codices,"  are  probably  in  some  private  collections. 
According  to  Sir  William  Gell,  eight  of  the  inscrip- 
tions  upon  the  Eugubean  tables  are  in  Umbrian  or 
Pelasgic,  commonly  called  Etruscan,  and  four   in 
Latin  characters.     In  the  latter,  which  seem  to  be 
like  the  other  tables  as  to  their  contents,  but  some- 
what modernized,  the  letter  o  appears  instead  of  v, 
and  sometimes  instead  of  /.     The  g  is  also  intro- 
duced, which  was  not  used,  as  it  is  imagined,  till 
about  the  year  400  b.  c.     Those  in  the  Umbrian 
character  may  be  three  hundred  years  older,  that 
is,  of  the  time  of  Romulus  and  Numa.     The  lines 
run  from  right   to  left  chiefly,  but  in  one  of  the 
tables  from  right  to  left  and  left  to  right  alternately, 
in    the  manner    called    Boustrophedon.      A  slight 
alteration  had  taken  place  in  the  language  when  the 
tables  in  the  Roman  letters  were  written. 

The  Archaeological  Professors  in  Rome  told  me  that 

♦  The  first  of  all  translations  from  the  Greeks,  and  the  originala 
quoted  bj  the  Latin  fathers  prior  to  Jerome. 


CONCLUSION. 


513 


the  language  here  called  Umbrian  was  the  Oscan, 
not  identical  with  the  Etruscan,  but  as  near  to  it  as 
Swedish  is  to  German,  and  Portuguese  to  Spanish — 
perhaps  as  near  as  modern  English  is  to  that  of 
Henry  II.  or  nearer.  The  third  table  is  an  edict 
for  the  feast  called  "  Plenarum  urnarium."  One  of 
the  oldest  Latin  tables  is  a  prayer  for  the  agricul- 
ture of  Ikuvium,  often  written  IIOVVINA !  or  thus, 
ANIVVOII.  The  Latin  of  these  tables  was  not 
understood  in  the  days  of  Cicero  or  Livy. 

The  reader  is  probably  aware,  that  among  all  the 
nations  of  eastern  origin,  the  ancient  mode  of 
writing  public  acts  was  upon  tables  of  stone  or  brass, 
and  that  such  writings  are  held  sacred,  as  laws  or 
as  records  of  history.  Specimens  may  be  seen  in 
the  Capitol  of  the  consular  times,  which  look  as 
fresh  and  as  sharply  engraved  as  if  they  had  not 
been  more  than  a  twelvemonth  out  of  the  workman's 
hands.  The  cathedral  at  Gubbio,  with  one  or  two 
churches,  containing  excellent  pictures,  the  duke's 
palace,  the  town-house,  and  the  public  library,  are 
particularly  well  worth  notice. 

MACERATA. 

Not  itself  an  Etruscan  town,  yet  proper  to  be 
mentioned,  because  in  its  immediate  vicinity  lies 
the  theatre  of  Pylargone,  of  which  I  was  assured 
that  the  architecture  is  Etruscan.  This  theatre  is 
scarcely  to  be  called  a  ruin.  It  is  so  perfect  that 
the  very  steps  remain  which  conducted  from  the 
orchestra    to   the     stage.      A    model    of    it  is  in 

z  5 


514 


CONCLUSION. 


CONCLUSION. 


olo 


the  possession    of   the    Archaeological   Society    at 
Rome. 

PERUGIA — CITY  OF  THE  LEAGUE. 

A  splendid  situation,  and  the  Hotel  de  TEurope 
an  excellent  inn.     It  will  take  four  days  of  hard 
work  to  see  this  city,  abounding  as  it  does  in  Etrus- 
can, Roman,  and  Italian  works  of  art,  of  singular 
merit  and  rarity.     It  appears  to  have  been  the  last 
of  the  leagued   towns   which   bowed    its  neck    to 
Rome ;  for,  though  tributary  before  the  Social  War, 
it  was  continually  throwing  off  the  yoke  and  re- 
asserting its  ancient  rights ;  and  it  did  not  become 
a  Roman  colony  until  burnt  in  the  cruel  wars  of 
Sylla,  about  a.  r.  670,  80  years  b.  c.     The  ancient 
emblem  of  the  town  was  a  stork.     Its  most  illustrious 
families  in  the  days  of  old  were  those  of  Volumnius,* 
Pomponius,  and  Metellus.   Some  portions  of  the  wall 
and  one  fine  gate  are  Etruscan.  The  Porta  San  Pietro 
is  an  Etruscan  gate,  but  modernized  and  repaired. 
Those  who  wish  to  see  the  antiquities  of  this  place 
in  perfection  should,  if  possible,  procure  an  intro- 
duction to  the  learned  Vermiglioli,  as  courteous  as 
he  is  profound.     In  the  rich   museum,  the  most  re- 
markable object  is  some  fine  plates  of  silver  and 
bronze,  with  intagli  and  basso  relievo,  adorned  all 
over  with  arabesques  and  small  figures  of  animals, 
beautifully   engraved   by  the    hand  of  a  first-rate 
artist.     In  some  parts  the  dresses  of  the  figures  are 
in  gold,   and   the  style  is   the   earliest   Egyptian. 

♦  The  sepulchre  of  this  distinguished  family  is  well  worth  visiting, 
and  stands  in  the  midst  of  the  ancient  necropolis. 


I 


/I 


These  plates,  along  with  a  quantity  of  figures  and 
monumental  furniture,  were  all  found  in  one  cave 
near  Perugia,  which  appeared  to  have  been  a  place  of 
concealment.  It  is  supposed  that  they  all  belonged 
to  a  temple,  and  were  hidden  by  the  priests  during 
some  of  their  many  times  of  plunder  and  distress. 
The  consequence  is,  that  sacred  furniture  of  different 
ages  was  found  laid  up  together.  These  silver 
plates  have  covered  a  votive  car,  the  wood  of  which 
has  perished,  and  which  was  probably  presented  by 
some  chief  eminently  successful  in  battle.  When 
this  treasure  was  found,  the  proprietors  caring 
nothing  about  ancient  art,  and  very  anxious  to 
make  the  most  of  it,  some  of  the  silver  was  im- 
mediately sent  to  be  melted  down  ;  the  rest  fell  for- 
tunately into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Dodwell,  Mr. 
Millingen,  and  the  museum  of  Perugia.  Dodwell's 
share  is  to  be  seen  in  his  museum  at  Rome,  and  is 
for  sale.  Millingen's  was  bought  by  the  late  R. 
Payne  Knight,  and  was  presented  by  him  to  the 
British  Museum.  These  latter  plates  represent,  the 
one  a  chariot  with  two  horses  and  a  charioteer, 
driving  over  a  man  who  has  fallen,  and  who  has 
doubled  himself  together  upon  the  ground,  an  atti- 
tude common  in  Perugian  sculptures.  The  clothing 
and  harness  are  silver  gilt,  or  rather  gold  laminai 
fastened  upon  the  silver  with  very  small  nails. 
Another  has  two  figures  on  horseback  richly  dressed 
in  gold  and  silver.  Another  is  a  race  with  one  of 
the  competitors  thrown;  and  another  a  combat  of 
lions  over   a  pig— with  the  fragment  of  a  griffin. 


516 


CONCLUSION. 


The  different  articles  found  in  this  repository  re- 
minded us  much  of  the  tomb  at  Caere.  They  pre- 
sented sirailiir  specimens  of  an  extended  intercourse 
with  polished  nations  at  different  periods,  or  much 
varying  in  the  progress  of  art.  Here  were  the  styles 
of  Egypt  and  Egina,  Phoenicia  and  Etruria,  through 
the  lapse  of  many  generations. 

Near  Perugia  is  a  building  called  "  Torre  di  San 
Marino,'**  in  which  there  are  several  fine  Etruscan 
circular  arches  made  of  large  blocks  of  travertine, 
sixteen  feet  long,  ttn  feet  broad,  and  ten  feet  high. 
On  the  left  side  is  an  Etruscan  inscription  in  large 
letters.  Within  the  town  it  is  hardly  necessary  to 
particularize,  as  objects  that  must  be  seen,  the 
Castle  ;  the  Legate's  palace ;  the  Palazzo  Antinore ; 
all  the  pictures  everywhere,  for  they  are  excellent ; 
the  celebrated  Cambio,  which  used  to  be  the  Ex- 
change, painted  by  Pietro  Perugino,  and  his  illus- 
trious scholar  Raphael ;  the  chapel  next  to  it, 
equally  well  worth  seeing,  painted  by  Perugino,  and 
his  excellent  scholar  Gian  Niccolo  Vanucci,  and 
opened  for  use  only  once  a  year ;  the  cathedral, 
which,  though  ugly  outside,  has  some  fine  carved 
wood  within,  some  painted  glass,  and  a  deposition 
from  the  cross^  worthy  of  all  praise,  by  Barrocio  ;  the 
church  of  San  Domenico  with  rich  painted  glass,  near 
to  which  is  an  oratory  with  a  Madonna  of  Peru- 
gino's,  for  which  the  king  of  Bavaria  offered  ten 
thousand  scudi :  and  the  church  of  San  Pietro,  one 
of  the  richest  I  ever  visited  in  beautiful  pictures  by 
Pinturecchio,  Sasso  Ferrata,  Caravaggio,  Guercino, 


CONCLUSION. 


517 


Guido,  Perugino,  of  whom  there  is  here  a  charming 
Madonna  della  Seggiola,  and  Eaphael  in  his  first 
manner  both  in  painting  and  in  carving.  This 
church  stands  upon  the  site  of  the  ancient  temple 
of  Venus  and  Mars ;  the  columns  in  it,  of  marble 
and  granite,  twenty-two  in  number,  came  from  that 
temple.  We  saw  six  churches  with  much  fiatigue,  but 
I  would  gladly  go  to  every  one  of  them  again.  The 
Porta  Augusta  is  a  very  fine  piece  of  architecture, 
attributed  to  Augustus,  and  is  composed  of  large 
blocks  of  marble  without  cement.  Antiquarians? 
say  that  it  is  an  Etruscan  gate  restored  by  Augustus, 
which  seems  probable. 


ASSISI. 

A  town  beautifully  situated  and  very  interesting  ; 
the  native  place  of  Saint  Franceso  of  Assisi,  and  of 
Metastasio.  Some  remarkable  tables  with  Etruscan 
inscriptions  have  been  found  here.  It  will  occupv 
half  a  day,  with  a  good  guide.  The  church  of 
Santa  Maria  Filipini  was  the  temple  of  Minerva. 
There  are  many  antiquities  of  which  my  notes 
are  too  brief  to  give  any  adequate  description. 
Travellers  should  see  the  church  of  S.  Francesco, 
and  the  monastery  of  Santa  Clara,  and  they  should 
visit  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill  the  magnificent  con- 
vent of  Santa  Maria  dei  Angeli,  which  contains 
many  fine  paintings,  and  particularly  one  lately 
presented  by  Overbeck,  perhaps  the  artist  of  highest 
genius  now  in  Italy. 


518 


CONCLUSION. 


CONCLUSION. 


619 


TODI    AND    NORCIA. 

These  places  we  were  unable  to  visit  *  In  an  ex- 
cavation at  the  former,  the  bronze  warrior  of  the 
Vatican  was  found,  and  a  great  deal  of  finely  built 
wall  remains.  At  the  latter  there  are  lines  of  tombs, 
which  once  had  sculptured  fronts ;  a  specimen  of 
which  I  subjoin  from  Sir  W.  Gell's  work  on  the 
vicinity  of  Rome. 


All  these  fronts  are  now  destroyed,  and  the  sepul- 
chres are  not  nearly  so  well  worth  seeing  as  those  of 
Castel  d'Asso ;  but  Norcia  was  described  to  me  as 
"  a  very  curious  and  interesting  Etruscan  city,  which 
every  one  ought  to  see." 

TERNI. 

Three  miles  from  Terni,  on  the  site  of  the  ancient 
Interamna,  is  a  mass  of  Etruscan  wall,  curious  to 

*  Since  writing  the  above,  I  have  seen  the  drawings  of  two  remark- 
able tombs  at  Norcia,  with  temple  fronts,  and  sculpture,  which  appear 
to  me  more  striking  than  anything  even  at  Tarquinia,  and  so  different 
from  all  other  parts  of  Etruria,  as  it  now  exists,  that  no  traveller 
should  neglect  to  visit  them.  They  are  the  only  monuments  remain- 
ing of  the  architecture  of  ancient  Italy. 


the  antiquary.  The  little  town  of  Terni  contains 
the  ruins  of  an  amphitheatre  in  the  bishop's  garden, 
and  of  a  temple  in  the  church  of  San  Salvadore, 
called  the  temple  of  the  sun.  In  the  cellars  of  the 
college  are  the  remains  of  a  temple  of  Hercules,  and 
at  the  Casa  Spada  ruins  of  ancient  baths.  Terni 
has  an  excellent  inn,  and,  with  its  waterfalls  and 
ruins,  occupies  a  day. 

FALERIA,    NEPI,    AND    SUTRI. 

Faleria,  the  ancient  name  of  Civita  Castellana,  is  a 
most  romantic  and  picturesque  place.  The  inn  here 
is  not  very  good.  The  place  will  occupy  a  day, 
being  full  of  antiquities,  and  probably  coeval  with 
Agylla.  The  valley  Dei  Tre  Cammini  is  full  of 
Etruscan  tombs,  and  there  are  a  great  many  also 
near  the  Ponte  del  Terrano.  There  is  a  portion  of 
old  wall  beneath  the  posthouse,  and  good  guides 
may  be  got  here  ;  but  by  far  the  best  guide  that  I 
know  to  Civita  Castellana,  Nepi,  Sutri,  Albano,  and 
Tusculum,  is  the  excellent  work  of  Sir  W.  Gell. 

At  Nepi  there  is  a  fine  specimen  of  Etruscan  wall, 
and  there  have  been  many  tombs  opened  and  ran- 
sacked. We  twice  spent  some  hours  there,  but  the 
inn  is  very  comfortless. 

Sutri  possesses  many  remains  of  Etruscan  walls, 
many  cavern  sepulchres,  particularly  one  with  a 
pillar  in  it,  called  "  the  Grotta  of  Orlando,"  and  an 
amphitheatre  hewn  out  of  the  tufo  rock.  In  the 
valley  near  the  Porta  Romana,  at  a  little  distance 


i 


520 


CONCLUSION. 


CONCLUSION. 


521 


from  the  town,  is  a  ridge  of  rocks  upon  the  right 
hand,  hollowed  into  sepulchres  which  have  once  been 
fronted  with  stone  and  ornamented ;  but  all  these 
ornaments  have  been  destroyed,  and  little  now  is  to 
be  seen  except  the  caverns.  Sutri  has  not,  however, 
been  much  explored.  The  credulous  inhabitants 
believe  that  it  was  the  birth-place  of  Orlando,  and 
of  Pontius  Pilate. 

BOLSENA — CITY    OF    THE    LEAGUE. 

Bolsena,  near  the  ancient  Volsinium  or  Felsinia, 
stands  upon  a  lake  of  the  same  name,  having  sepul- 
chres, caverns,  and  tumuli  on  three  sides  of  it.  It  is 
a  ruinous  old  town.  Over  the  gate,  and  on  the  out- 
side of  it,  is  a  large  basso-relievo,  which  was  found 
close  to  the  town,  representing  the  sacrifice  of  oxen  to 
Ceres.  Near  the  church  are  various  small  remains 
of  inscriptions,  columns,  busts,  and  rude  bassi-relievi. 
The  inn  is  very  bad,  much  to  the  disadvantage  of 
this  beautiful  and  once  luxurious  place,  from  which 
two  thousand  bronze  statues  were  carried  off  to 
Rome,  B.  c.  265.  In  modern  times,  the  only  one 
found  here,  I  believe,  has  been  the  statue  of  Aulus 
Metellus,  the  son  of  Velius,  born  of  Vesia,  now  in 
the  Florence  Gallery,  and  called  the  Arringatore ; 
the  inscription  is  written  upon  the  border  of  his 
robe.  Several  black  and  red  vases  were  found 
here  in  1817.  Here  are  the  remains  of  a  temple 
supposed  to  be  that  of  the  celebrated  goddess  Nor- 
tia,  and  without  the  town  are  the  remains  of  an 


amphitheatre.     Bolsena  was  the  native  place  of  Ser- 
vius  Tullius,  or  of  his  parents. 


COSSA — CITY    OF   THE    LEAGUE. 

On  the  sea-coast.  This  port  of  Vulci  retains  the 
best  preserved  military  works  in  Etruria.  The 
walls  are  quite  perfect,  consisting  of  polygonal 
blocks  of  stone,  and  six  of  the  old  towers  remain. 
Three  double  gates  are  distinct,  and  two  paved 
roads,  viz.  the  one  which  led  towards  Rome,  and 
the  other  which  went  northwards,  and  joined  the 
Via  Aurelia.  The  place  is  now  called  Ansidonia. 
A  Roman  colony  was  settled  here  a.  u.  489,  nine 
years  before  the  first  Punic  war,  and  hence  all  the 
remains  of  old  buildings  within  the  walls  are 
Roman,  excepting  three  sides  of  a  building  of  the 
middle  ages  on  the  south-east,  and  near  the  wall. 
There  are  many  of  those  ruins  called  "  Conserva- 
torio  d'Acqua,"  which  an  antiquary  told  me  was  a 
convenient  name  for  every  piece  of  masonry  of 
which  they  had  not  otherwise  ascertained  the 
purpose.  Nearly  in  the  centre  are  the  remains 
of  a  broken  arch,  and  beyond  the  walls  is  a  co- 
lumbarium.  It  has  a  curious  effect  to  see  all  the 
houses  of  a  city  swept  away,  effaced  as  a  rubbed  out 
drawing,  and  its  boundaries  standing  entire,  as  if 
waiting  for  it  to  rise  up  again.  We  saw  something 
of  this  sort  on  a  large  scale,  but  not  perfect,  at 
Paestum. 


622 


CONCLUSION. 


ALBANO. 


CONCLUSION. 


523 


Albano  is  full  of  antiquities;  the  greater  num- 
ber of  which  are  too  well  known  to  need  description. 
It  has  two  good  inns  and  a  museum,  public  gardens, 
and  beautiful  drives  and  walks.  The  Etruscan  re- 
mains are  the  tomb  of  Aruns.  The  temple  of 
Jupiter  Latialis  on  the  summit  of  Monte  Cavo,  and 
the  truly  wonderful  Eraissario  upon  the  lake,  which, 
though  made  with  Roman  money,  is  of  Etruscan 
architecture.  No  building  in  Italy  was  the  work  of 
Roman  artists  before  the  temple  of  Cere,  in  the 
sixth  century  of  the  Republic. 

TUSCULUM. 

This  was  an  Etruscan  city,  though  I  believe  that 
all  its  present  remains,  except  one  curious  well,  are 
Roman. 

ROME,   THE    PUPIL    OF    ETRURIA. 

The  Etruscan  remains  in  Rome  are  a  portion  of 
the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus,  founded  by  Tar- 
quin  the  First  about  a.  r.  170,  and  completed  by 
Tarquin  the  Proud  a.  r.  242,  more  than  500  years 
before  the  Christian  era.  It  is  close  to  the  Pa- 
lazzo Caffarelli,  and  very  near  the  rooms  of  the 
Archaeological  Society.  The  Cloaca  Maxima,  and 
the  Circus  Maximus,  both  the  work  of  the  same 
great  prince.  The  Mamertine  Prisons,  commenced 
by  Tullius  Hostilius,  and  finished  by  Ancus  Martins 
about  A.  R.  ]  30,  restored  by  order  of  the  Republic 


I 


during  the  consulship  of  V.  Rufinus  and  M.  Cocceius 
Nerva.  The  Agger  of  Servius  Tullius  in  the  gardens 
of  the  Villa  Negroni :— 7%^  Wall  o{ Servius  Tullius, 
now   much   decayed,   under   the  church   of  Santa 
Balbina,  on  the  right  hand  of  the  exit  at  the  Porta 
Capena.     This  wall  is  of  tufo,  and  constructed  with 
alternate  layers  of  square  and  oblong  stones,  the  one 
row  presenting  their  sides,  and  the  next  row  their  ends. 
A  Portion  of  the  same  wall  in  the  gardens  of  Sallust, 
built  about  the  year  of  Rome  200.     The  Tomb  of  the 
Scipios  discovered  in  a.  d.   1780.     It  was  excavated 
in   Peperino,  and  was  used  in  a.  r.  456,  after  the 
Social  War.     The    architecture    of   this   tomb    is 
Etruscan,  though  the  manner  of  burying  in  it  was 
much   simpler   than   the   rites  and    ornaments    of 
Etruria.      Beside  these,  there  are  Etruscan  walls 
of  unknown  antiquity  beneath  the  Coliseum ;  and 
in  addition  to  all  these,  the  latest  of  the  Etruscan 
works,  the  Tabularium,  overlooking  the  Forum,  the 
building  of  which  was  not  completed  until   a.  r. 
674,  and  which  was  still  excavating  in  1839.     Only 
one   Etruscan   Bronze  remains,   and   that    is    the 
famous  Wolf  of  the  Capitol,  of  which  we  have  his- 
torical mention  in  a.  r.  457,  nearly  300  years  b.  c, 
and  which  was  the  work  of  Etruscan  artists.     It 
was  found  many  years  since  built  up  in  the  old 
walls  of  the  temple  of  Romulus. 


524 


CONCLUSION. 


For  the  benefit  of  those  who  wish  to  read  the 
inscriptions,  I  subjoin  an  Etruscan  alphabet.  The 
words  are  always  read  from  right  to  left,  and  the 
short  vowels  must  be  supplied. 


A 

B 

C 

E 

F 

H 

I 

K 

L 

M 

N 

P 

R 

S 

T 

V 

V 

X 

z 

Th 

Cli 


a 

0  >-i 

1  s  h 

4  Ay 

•*1W\)T) 
1  M 

nil 
ia;i  q<i 

^  en^^ 
t  y  H- 

3  T  qA 

Z  d 

ao  ^  OB 


mLkaowiL  Y    > 


f 


APPENDICES. 


Appendix  A. — Page  76. 

VASE    ILLUSTRATIVE  OF    AN  ARABIC  OR  PERSIAN  POEM. 

This  vase  was  found  in  a  tomb  at  Sommavilla  in 
Sabina.  The  poem,  according  to  which  it  is  sup- 
posed to  be  painted,  does  not  exist  in  a  written  form, 
but  each  several  part  of  it  is  either  extracted  from 
an  existing  work,  or  is  to  be  found  as  a  proverb  in 
the  mouths  of  the  people  thus : 

Moon,  moon — what  art  thou  like  in  the  first  night 
of  thine  appearance  ? 

I  am  like  to  a  little  lamb  sucking  its  first  draught. 

And  on  thy  second  night  ? — I  am  like  two  chil- 
dren two  days  old,  murmuring  to  each  other. 

And  on  thy  third  night  ? — I  am  like  to  a  band  of 
girls  as  they  go  talking. 

What  art  thou  like  on  the  fourth  night  ? — I  am 
like  to  a  sheep  which  neither  sucks  nor  eats  the 
grass. 

And  on  thy  fifth  ? — I  am  like  those  who  assemble 
in  the  evening  for  pleasant  conversation. 


I 


526 


APPENDICES. 


APPENDICES. 


527 


And  on  thy  sixth  ? — Then  am  I  bright,  even  as  a 
gay  feast. 

And  on  thy  seventh? — Such  am  I,  that  a  man 
may  see  and  choose  to  pick  the  stones. 

(Under  the  seventh,  men  are  seen  choosing  and 
picking  stones.) 

And  on  the  eighth  night  what  art  thou  like  ?— I 
am  even  as  a  torch  divided  between  two  brothers  ? 

And  on  the  ninth?— Then  am  I  the  light  of  that 
torch  suspended  over  them. 

On  the  tenth  night  what  art  thou  like  ?— Then  do 
I  cry,  "  Hide  me,  for  Aurora  is  coming." 

On  the  eleventh  night  ?— Then  am  I  seen  both  at 
morning  and  even. 

On  the  twelfth  night?— Then  must  I  hasten  on 
from  my  far  eastern  station. 

On  the  thirteenth  ?— Then  rejoice  in  my  light,  for 
I  am  dazzling  and  bright. 

On  the  fourteenth  ?— Let  the  youth  shout  aloud, 
who  fears  nor  shade  nor  cloud. 

On  the  fifteenth?— Yea,  then  is  my  condition  the 
nearest  to  perfection. 

On  the  sixteenth  ?— Then  begins  my  decrease— 'tis 
the  birth  of  my  decease. 

On  the  seventeenth  ?  — My  face  turns  pale. 
Traveller  behold  !  and  quail ! 

(On  the  seventeenth,  my  men  are  seen  looking  at 
the  moon  with  terror.) 

On  the  eighteenth  ?— Even  as  it  rose,  so  my  life 
hastens  to  a  close. 


On  the  nineteenth  ?— Though  living  yet,  I  am 
late  to  rise  and  early  to  set. 

On  the  twentieth  ? — I  rise  at  the  dawn,  and  show 
faint  in  the  morn. 

On  the  twenty-first? — As  a  thing  of  fear;  my 
light  is  doubtful  when  I  do  appear. 

On  the  twenty-second  ? — My  body  hourly  grows 
less — a  waning  thing,  unfit  to  bless. 

On  the  twenty-third  ? — I  rise  and  set,  as  a  race 
unseen,  as  a  friend  unmet. 

On  the  twenty  fourth  ? — I  come  out  of  obscurity 
but  am  not  bright — I  shine  but  as  that  which  gives 
no  light. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  ?— With  the  light  of  my  body 
no  fuller  than  the  horn  ;  weak  as  one  dying,  or  one 
just  born. 

On  the  twenty-sixth? — Death  overwhelms  me, 
and  hope  fails. 

On  the  twenty-seventh  ? — My  life  wastes  away, 
as  each  ray  pales. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  ? — I  am  come  out  in  the 
morning,  and  last  not  till  noon-day. 

On  the  twenty-ninth  ?— The  light  of  the  sun- 
beams chase  me  away. 

They  veil  me  from  the  eyes  of  the  children  of  men. 

On  the  thirtieth  ?— I  hasten  to  die,  that  I  may 
begin  life  again. 

The  merit  of  uniting  these  fragments  into  one  com- 
position, and  translating  them,  is  due  to  Professor 
Lanzi,  who  takes  it  from  the  Arabic,  but  the  profes- 
sor who  spoke  to  us  of  the  vase  called  it  Persian. 


528  APPENDICES. 

Appendix  B. — Page  89. 
baker's  tomb. 

The  baker's  tomb  was  erected  by  a  man  named 
Eurysace,  to  contain  himself  and  his  wife.  As  the 
wife  died  first,  her  husband  burnt  the  body,  and  put 
the  ashes  into  an  urn  shaped  like  a  bread-basket, 
which  he  placed  at  the  foot  of  her  statue,  with  this 
inscription  : 


Fuit  Atistia  uxor  mihi, 
Femina  cpituma  veixit, 
Quoius  corporis  reliquiae, 
Quod  superunt,  sunt  in 
Hoc  panario. 


Atistia  was  my  wife, 
And  lived  an  excellent  woman. 
The  relics  of  her  body 
Which  remain,  are  to  be  found 
In  this  bread-basket. 


Close  to  her  statue  stands  his  own,  and  over  the 
tomb  is  a  bas-relief  of  his  large  oven,  and  the  man- 
ner of  making,  baking,  weighing,  and  selling  bread. 
The  date  of  the  tomb  is  supposed  to  be  about  the 
600  of  Rome.  Eurysace  calls  himself  "  Pistor," 
and  Pliny  says  the  first  Pistores  were  in  a.  r.  580. 
From  its  first  inconvenient  situation,  the  tomb 
must  have  been  there  before  the  Gate  and  Claudian 
Aqueduct  were  made,  and  it  must  have  been  consi- 
dered as  a  building  of  too  much  consequence  and 
too  much  sacredness  to  remove. 


Appendix  C. — Page  106. 

CARMEN    ARVALE. 

END  LASES  IN  VATE  NEVE  LVERVE, 
MARMER  SVIS  INCVRRERE  IN  PLEORES, 


J'  -y^ 


Si(l<:   I  ifH'. 


\ 


n  OjV 


ulA 


^^ 


A 


n 


/■'/•/  //////  /'///// 


^; 


^-^-i^^&b 


L***////*        //^•*/ 


C7 


\ 


*f\ 


F    » 


'   ^ 


APPENDICES. 


529 


SATUR  FUFERE  MARS  LUMEN  SALI  STA  BERBER, 
SEMUNE8  ALTERNEI  ADVOCAPIT  CONCTOS, 
ENOS  MARMOR  lUVATO, 

TRIUMPE.   TRIUMPE.    TRIUMPE.    TRIUMPE. 
TRIUMPE. 

The  attempt  to  put  it  into  imperial  Latin  is  as 
follows : 

Nos  Lares  juvate  neve  luem 

Mamers  sinas  incurrere  in  flores. 

Aelor  fieri  Mars  lumen  maris  siste   .     .     . 

Semones  alterni  advocate  cunctos 

Nos  mamuri  juvato 

Triumphe,  triumpbe,  &c. 


Appendix  D. — Page  145. 

AVOLTA's  warrior's  TOMB. 

In  the  annals  of  the  Archaeological  Society,  I  have 
found  the  following  account  of  the  discovery  of  this 
tomb  written  by  Carlo  Avolta,  in  1826.  In  that  year, 
it  was  necessary  to  repair  a  road,  the  Via  Romana, 
under  his  superintendence.  One  of  the  labourers 
employed  upon  the  work  intending  to  break  a  stone 
with  his  pickaxe,  made  a  hole  in  doing  so,  which 
showed  that  the  stone  formed  part  of  the  roof  of  a 
cavern.  Avolta  says, "  I  stooped  down,  and  what  was 
my  amazement  to  see  through  this  hole  a  warrior 
lying  in  state  upon  a  bed  of  stone  ;  he  was  clothed  in 
full  armour,  and  looked  like  a  living  man  ;  but  whilst 
I  gazed,  his  figure  trembled,  and  he  vanished  away. 
I  stood  for  some  minutes,  hoping  the  illusion  would 

a  a 


530 


APPENDICES. 


return,  but  when  I  saw  that  it  was  gone  for  ever, 
I  got  the  workmen  to  enlarge  the  hole  sufficiently  to 
let  me  down  into  the  tomb,  that  I  might  observe  all 
the  particulars  of  it,  before  it  was  destroyed  or 
emptied  of  its  contents.  When  I  went  up  to  the 
stone  bier,  I  found  the  armour  and  the  body  crum- 
bled into  dust,  and  nothing  remaining  but  some  bits 
of  a  yellow  woollen  garment,  and  some  fragments 
of  bone.  At  the  side  of  this  lay  two  lances,  ten 
palmi  high,  and  eight  javelins,  which  were  oxydized 
together,  and  which  broke  into  three  parts  when  I 
endeavoured  to  separate  them.  In  the  hand  had 
lain  a  sword,  which  was  short,  with  a  cruciform 
handle  and  golden  hilt,  which  I  gave  to  Lord  Kin- 
naird.  Upon  the  ground,  at  the  foot  of  the  bier, 
stood  a  very  large  bronze  vase,  containing  the  war- 
rior's biga,  half  burnt  and  half  broken.  Upon  the 
right  side  of  the  tomb  were  six  large  bronze  shields, 
having  upon  them,  either  chiselled  or  stamped,  pro- 
cessions of  men,  horses,  and  other  animals,  in  basso 
relievo.  Near  these  lay  a  bronze  vase  with  four 
handles,  also  chiselled ;  a  cup  of  bronze,  and  an  urn 
of  bronze,  full  of  ashes.  All  of  these  had  hung 
upon  the  wall,  and  had  fallen  when  the  nails 
which  held  them  had  given  way,  perhaps  upon  the 
making  of  the  Via  Romana.  Opposite  the  bier, 
and  of  the  same  form,  stood  a  large  table  of  red 
lime-stone  polished.  It  was  supported  by  three  feet, 
an  angle  of  the  wall  taking  the  place  of  a  fourth 
foot.  Upon  it  lay  a  heap  of  black  earth,  probably 
once   perfumes,   and   a   crown  of  gold  formed   of 


I 


APPENDICES. 


■) 


631 


I 


lilies  in  relievo  of  pure  gold,  laid  in  leaves  upon  a 
mould  of  bronze,  of  which  they  had  taken  the  form. 
Lord   Kinnaird  got  part  of  this  crown:   the  rest 
perished,  the  bronze  being  oxydized.     In  the  midst 
of  the  tomb  lay  a  pile  of  tazze,  some  of  them  quite 
black ;  and  near  them  was  another  pile,  which  had 
undergone   the  action   of  fire,  having  most  likely 
been  filled  with  perfumes  or  offerings.    They  were 
much  injured.     None  of  the  terra  cotta  was  painted 
excepting  one  little  tazza,  and    one  lachrymatory 
upon    which   were    animals.      Opposite    the    bier 
stood  eight  large  terra  cotta  vases,  four  round  and 
four  taper-shaped,    red-coloured    and   cannellated, 
the  handles  terminating    in  the   heads  of  marine 
dragons  or  hippo-campi,  sacred  to  the  dead.     All 
these  things  I    had  carefully  removed  to  a  small 
hut  near,  to  save  them  from  being  injured  by  the 
torrents  of  rain  which  began  to  fall  whilst  I  was  yet 
in  the  tomb ;    I  could  not,  however,  prevent  the 
workmen  from  stealing  some  of  them,  and  in  parti- 
cular, one  beautiful  cup,  a  Pocale.     The  tomb  was 
roofed  with  beams  of  Nenfrite,  and   supported  by 
pilasters,  and  had  been  surmounted  by  a  tumulus 
which  covered  it  along  with  five  others  somewhat 
similar,  which  entered  from  it,  and  which  appear  to 
have  belonged  to  it.  Strange  to  say,  they  had  all  been 
spoiled  in  former  days,  and  this  only  had  escaped. 
One  of  them  I  judge  to  have  been  the  tomb  of  the 
Lucumo's  wife,  because  it  joined  his  tomb,  and  had 
still  in  it  some  ornaments  belonging  to  a  woman. 
Another  had  in  it  a  skeleton,  which  lay  upon  the 

A   A  2 


'V 


^n 


532 


APPENDICES. 


APPENDICES. 


533 


earth,  and  was  probably  that  of  a  slave.  None  of 
the  five  had  pilasters  or  frieze,  or  anything  else  in 
them  worthy  of  notice/' 

They  are  now  all  filled  up.  Signor  Avolta  remem- 
bers every  tomb  that  has  been  opened  since  1780, 
and  says  that  most  of  the  articles  then  brought  to 
lio-ht  were  sold  to  the  Jews.  Some  pieces  of  amber 
carved,  some  curious  scarabei,  and  some  tablets  of 
verde  antique,  were  given  to  Mr.  Fagan. 

Very  few  tombs  were  opened  after  1790  until 
1817,  when  that  enterprise  of  excavation  com- 
menced which  is  still  continuing.  In  1817  several 
tombs  were  found,  containing  eight  or  ten  sarco- 
phagi, and  one  larger  and  more  ornamented  in  the 
midst,  having  always  upon  the  lid  the  figure  of  a 
man  clothed  with  the  toga.  Along  with  these 
were  found  some  coins  the  size  of  a  paul,  having  on 
one  side  a  warrior's  helmet,  and  on  the  other  a  bull 
with  a  cornet  above  its  horns.  In  1826  a  tomb  was 
opened  which  contained  the  skeleton  of  a  giant  in 
one  sarcophagus,  and  that  of  a  horse  in  another.  In 
1780  there  were  six  hundred  tumuli  upon  the  Monte 
Rozzi. 


Appendix  E — Page  209. 

TARQUINIA. 

In  the  annals  of  the  Archseological  Society,  I 
have  found  the  two  Latin  inscriptions  written 
upon  the  sarcophagi.     The  one  means  "  Aurelia, 

7 


the  noble  woman,  daughter  of  a  Lucumo,  aged 
45;"  AVRELIA.  L.  R  OPTVMA.  FEMINA. 
VIXSIT.  AN.  XLV.;  the  other,  "  L.  Percenna, 
son  of  Publius,  Flamen  for  three  years,  died  suddenly 
in  the  third;  L.  PEECENNA.  P.  F.  FLAMEN. 
ANNOS.  III.  IREPTRITVS  One  standard 
has,  or  rather  had  upon  it,  in  Etruscan  characters, 
"  Pumpu  Lar  ....  Arnthal ;"  the  other,  "  Laris 
Pumpu  Arnthal  C.  Larr,  ex.  chase."  This  tomb 
has  doubtless  belonged  to  the  family  of  Pomponius. 


Appendix  F. — Page  239. 


TARQUINIA — CORNETO. 

Inscriptions  upon  the  marbles  which  are  now 
fixed  upon  the  staircase  in  the  Palazzo  Bruschi,  and 
which  were  found  by  Cav.  Manzi  and  Signor  Foscati, 
in  the  baths  of  Tarquinia,  December  1829. 


THERMAS  MVNICIP 
PATER  EIVS  COS.     AV 

TESTAMENTO.  F 
AMPLIATO  QV 


I. 

ALE 
GVR      S 
E  CI 
E     OPI^ 

II. 

p.    TVLLIO, 

VARRONIS    FIL. 

STEL.    VARRONI    COSS, 

AVGVRI,   PROCOS.    PROVING. 


S        QVAS  P.    TVLLIVS. 
ESTERTIO.  TER.  ET.  TR. 
T    ADIECTA.  PECVNIA 
RE    PERFECIT. 


i 


t 


<4 


634  APPENDICES. 

AFRICAE.    LEG.    AVG.    PROPR. 
MOESIiE    SVPERIORIS    CVRAT. 
ALVEI    TIBERIS    ET    RIPARVM. 
ET    CLOACARVM    VRBIS.    PRAEP. 
AERARII    SATVRNI    PROC.    PROV. 
BAETICAE.    VLTERIORIS.    HISPA 
NIAE    LEG.    LEG.    XII.    FVLMINATR. 
ET    VI.    VICTRICIS    P.    F. 
PRAETORI    AEDILI.    CERIALI. 
QVAESTORI    VRB.    TRIBVNO. 
MILIT.    LEG.    XVI.    ET    XVIRO  STILIBVS. 
INDICANDI    PRAETORI,    ^TRVRIAE    QVIN 
QVENNALI,    TARQVINIS 
P.    TVLLIVS    CALLISTIO. 
POSVIT 

III. 

Q.    PETRONIO.    MELIORI.    VIRO. 

COS.    CVR.    R.    P.    TARQVINIENS. 

ET.    GRAVISCANORVM.    PRAEFKC. 

FRVM.    DANDI.    LEGAT.    LEG. 

XXX.    VLPIAE.    CVRATOR.    PVRGENS. 

ET.    CERETANORVM.    LEG.    LEG. 

VIII.    AVG.    PR^T.    TRIB     PLEB. 

KANDID.    QVAEST.    PROV.    NAR. 

BON.    QVAEST.    SODALI.    AVG. 

CLAVDIALI.    SEX.    VIR.    TVRM. 

PR.    TRIB.    LATIEL.    LEG.    PR.   MIN. 

XVIRO.  STILIT.  IVDICAND. 
OEDO.  ET.    GIVES.  TARQVI 
NIENSIVM.  PATRONO.  OP 
TIMO.  QVOD.  REM.  P.  FOVE 


t 


APPENDICES. 

RIT.  ET.  THERMAS.  RESTI 
TVERIT. 

IV. 

L.  DASVMIO.  P.  F. 

STEL.  TVLLIO. 

TVSCO.  COS. 

AVGVRI.  SODALI.  COMITI.  AVG.  HADRIA 

NALI.  SODALI.  ANTONI 

NIANO.  CVRAT.  OPERVM. 

PVBLICORVM. 
LEGATO.  PR.  PROVINCIARVM. 
GERMANIAE.  SVPERIOR. 
ET.  PANNONIAE.  SVPERIOR. 
PRAEFECTO.  AER.  SATVRNI. 
PRAETORI.  TRIBVNO.  PLEB. 
LEG.  PROVING.  AFRICAE. 
QVAEST.  IMP.  ANTONINI.  AVG.   PII. 
TRIB.  MIL.  LEG.  IIII.  FLAVIAE. 
TRIVMVIRO.  A.  A.  A.     F.  F. 
P.  TVLLIVS.  CALISTIO. 

POSVIT. 

V. 

DOMITIAE.  ELPIDI.  C.  F. 

CONIVGI.  Q.  PETRO. 

NI.  MELIORIS.  VIRI. 

COS. 

ORDO.  ET.  GIVES. 

TARQVINIENSIVM. 

PATRONAE.  DIG 
NISSIMAE. 


535 


%% 


536 


APPENDICES. 


APPENDICES. 


537 


In  the  fourth  vol.  of  the  Archaeological  Transac- 
tions,  p.  177,  Monsieur  Duxeau  de  Lamalle  makes 
upon  these  tables  the  following  observations  : 

"  From  the  information  conveyed  to  us  by  these 
tables,  it  results, 

"  1st.  That  all  the  institutions  and  dignities  of 
Augustus  were  continued  to  the  time  of  Nerva  and 
Commodus. 

"  2d.  The  four  consulates  here  enumerated  reveal 
to  us  a  difference  of  magistracies,  and  teach  us  some- 
thing before  not  known  of  the  nature  and  import- 
ance of  their  functions. 

"  3d.  Th  eyspeak  of  revolts,  insurrections,  and 
inroads,  which  find  no  other  place  in  history. 

"  4th.  They  teach  us  also  that  the  foreign  conquests 
of  Trajan  were  the  cause  of  that  weakness  of  the 
empire  which  began  to  show  itself  on  the  acces- 
sion of  Adrian,  and  gradually  increased  until  its 
fall. 

"  5th.  These  marbles  confirm  the  progressive  de- 
crease of  the  free  population,  and  the  products  of 
Italy,  by  the  importance  they  give  to  the  office  of 
Prefectus  Annonae. 

'*  6th.  They  show  us  that  the  rank  of  Curator,  in 
four  of  the  towns  of  Etruria,  was  equal  to  the  rank  of 
Prefectus  Annonae,  a  fact  before  this  unknown. 

"  7th.  They  show  us  that  the  mode  of  jurisdiction 
and  the  composition  of  the  Roman  tribunals  was 
very  vicious,  and  contributed  to  the  decadence  and 
depopulation  of  the  empire." 

Monsieur   de   Lamalle  gives   also   the    Latin  of 


these  tables  fully  written  out,  but  it  seems  to  me 
useless  to  add  anything  further  for  English  travel- 
lers, than  that  the  last  line  but  one  of  the  fourth 
table,  A.  A.  A.  F.  F.  means  auro.  argento.  acre.  Flando. 
Feriundo. 


Appendix  G. — Page  305. 


VULCI. 


I  cannot  think  that  I  havedone  justice  to  Vulci,or 
to  the  Remains  of  Etruria,  without  mentioning  that 
among  the  most  beautiful  objects  in  gold,  of  Etruscan 
art,  which  I  have  ever  seen,  were  some  of  those 
lately  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Herz,  11,  Great  Marl- 
borough-street,  London,  and  that  he  affirmed  the 
greater  part  of  them  to  have  come  from  the  sepulchres 
of  Vulci.  When  I  saw  them  I  regretted  much  that 
I  could  not  compare  them  with  the  valuable  collec- 
tion of  Lucien  Bonaparte,  which  in  delicacy  of  work- 
manship and  high  style  of  art  they  do  not  exceed. 

Very  near  Vulci  lies  the  Ponte  Sodo,  whence  the 
Prince  of  Canino  has  extracted  a  quantity  of  valu- 
able gold  ornaments,  particularly  a  thick  gold 
chain,  ending  in  a  ram's  head,  and  a  frontlet,  con- 
sisting of  a  larger  and  smaller  round  gold  plate, 
like  that  found  upon  the  head  of  the  Larthia  at 
Agylla  Csere. 

When  told  in  Rome  that  these  ornaments  had 


I 


538 


APPENDICES. 


APPENDICES. 


539 


been  found  in  a  tomb  at  the  Ponte  Sodo,  I  supposed 
that  they  had  come  from  Veil,  because  I  did  not 
know  of  any  other  Ponte  Sodo  than  the  one  there  : 
but  I  have  since  been  made  aware  of  my  mis- 
take. The  house  of  Prince  Musignano  has  upon 
it  lions  and  griflSns,  which  were  taken  from  a 
remarkable  tomb  in  his  grounds,  called  the  Cucu- 
mella. 


At  Vulci,  a  painted  grotta  has  been  found  be- 
neath  the    old   walls,   and    near    to    one    of  the 
ancient  highways,  but  we  did  not  hear  of  it  until 
we  were  far  away  from  the  spot,  and  it  is  probably 
now   inaccessible.      It   was   discovered   by   Signor 
Campanari,  a.  d.    1833,  and  consisted  of  a  single 
chamber,  supported  by  a  pillar  in  the  centre,  the 
capital  of  which  we  saw  in  the  Campanari  garden 
at  Toscanella.     Two  heads  are  sculptured  upon  it, 
which  he  named  Helen  and  Paris.     The  roof  of  the 
grotta  was  vaulted,  and  supported  by  a  beam  in  the 
midst,  but  not  painted.  Above  the  door  was  a  paint- 
ing of  the  Genius   of  Death,  with  a  large  mouth 
and  club.     On  the  right  hand  were  three  figures, — 
one  a  bearded  man  clothed  in  a  blue  mantle,  the 
second  a  young  girl  in  a  tunic  and  red  mantle,  and 
the  third  a  naked  figure  standing  behind,  and  sup- 
posed to  be  Charon.     There  were  other  figures,  but 
the  stucco  fell  upon  the  grotta  being  opened.     On 


(f 


i 


the  left  hand  was  a  man  in  a  red  pallium  teaching  a 
youth  in  a  red  mantle  and  short  tunic,  and  held  on 
the  other  side  by  a  woman,  also  in  a  red  mantle  and 
tunic,  wearing  upon  her  head  the  tutulus,  the  an- 
cient Etruscan  sign  of  matronly  rank.  Near  to 
her  stood  a  girl  who  appeared  to  be  her  daughter, 
and  next  to  the  girl  a  man  in  a  blue  mantle. 
Then  came  a  large  hole  vvhich  had  been  made  in 
ancient  times  to  get  through  this  sepulchre  into 
others  close  to  it,  and,  as  is  supposed,  all  unpainted. 
Beyond  the  hole  stood  another  girl  and  another 
matron.  Opposite  the  entrance  sat  Pluto,  with  a 
very  noble  head  and  countenance,  naked  from  the 
waist  upwards,  seated  in  a  curule  chair,  and  having 
the  lower  part  of  the  form  enveloped  in  a  red  pal- 
lium. His  right  hand  rested  on  the  seat,  his  left 
bore  the  sceptre  terminating  in  a  lotus  flower.  His 
beard  and  hair  were  gray,  his  face  wore  a  fierce  ex- 
pression, and  he  had  a  golden  crown  upon  his  head. 
Before  him  stood  Proserpine,  in  a  tunic,  a  blue  man- 
tle, and  a  white  veil,  which  she  was  raising  with  her 
right  hand,  as  if  revealing  a  glimpse  at  the  myste- 
ries of  futurity.  She  had  a  bracelet  upon  her  right 
arm,  and  a  large  ornament  upon  her  head.  Near 
Pluto,  (or  Sethlans,  as  he  was  most  likely  called  by 
those  who  painted  him,)  stood  three  figures,  supposed 
to  represent  the  three  infernal  judges  :  Minos  with  a 
dark  red-coloured  mantle,  iEacus  in  blue,  and 
Rhadamanthus  in  light  red,  leaning  upon  a  staff. 
Upon  the  fourth  wall  were  a  number  of  figures, 


540 


APPENDICES. 


APPENDICES. 


541 


the  most  distinct  and  prominent  of  which  were  a 
boy  and  girl  gracefully  dressed,  passing  with  the 
others  onwards  to  something  unseen.  Campanari 
thinks  that  all  the  figures  in  this  grotta  (not  allego- 
rical) were  portraits,  and  that  the  family  buried 
here  were  represented  in  the  first  instance  as  passing  to 
judgment,  and  in  the  second,  as  passing  from  it— jus- 
tified, and  pressing  onwards  to  the  heaven  of  heavens. 
He  says  that  all  the  paintings  were  the  size  of  life, 
done  upon  frescos,  and  superior  in  execution  to  any  at 
Tarquinia.  He  wished  to  have  them  removed  in  order 
that  they  might  be  preserved  in  some  safer  asylum 
from  damp  and  destruction  ;  but  in  endeavouring  to 
execute  his  purpose,  the  whole  fell  to  pieces  upon  the 
floor,  and  was  utterly  destroyed.  I  confess  it  would 
have  been  a  satisfaction  to  me  to  have  seen  the  cave 
in  which  those  things  had  existed,  and  to  have  pene- 
trated through  to  the  line  of  sepulchres  with  which 
it  was  connected,  but  the  Italians  do  not  seem  to 
have  this  feeling  nationally,  nor  to  estimate  their 
antiquities  in  any  other  manner  than  as  to  how 
many  scudi  each  is  likely  to  sell  for.  There  were 
several  urns  in  the  grotta  on  the  left-hand  side  of 
the  door,  some  of  them  containing  burnt  bones,  but 
Campanari  gives  no  description  of  them,  and  I  do 
not  know  what  has  become  of  them. 


i 


Appendix  H. — Pac/e  423. 

CASTEL    d'^ASSO. 

In  the  annals  of  the  Archaeological  Society,  I  have 
found  seven     inscriptions:  >f^|3Hl Ineisl, 

•••0VMA>3Ecasutii,   ...^3^I3>  440\A<1A 

Arthnal      ceises,        3111131   •    4M3m    VMA>3 

Ecasu  inesl  Tetnie,      <3lW     ^^^lAVHOV 

urinatess     luies,  VWOV     '  •    ^^ 

uth  in Is  .  .  .      0V^A>3   Ecasuth. 


•  • » 


THE    END. 


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